


The Cat and The Toad

by Kitteh413



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Drama, F/M, Friendship/Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 62,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitteh413/pseuds/Kitteh413
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Angry shouts could be heard after Dahlia as she ran down the streets, the air frigid. Her shoes soaked through from the melting snow she ran through. Puffs of fog came out with every breath and eyes darted around for a way to escape. With her heart pounding she skidded across the cement of the sidewalk and ducked into an alley for cover. Trapped." - chp. 10</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey~ The beginning chapters will be kind of slow while I establish character relationships and plot line. :) Don't give up on me too soon, this is my first official X-men fanfiction.
> 
> This story is mainly unrevised, I have the revised version on my Fanfiction.net story though under the account Kitteh4137 if you'd be interested in reading that.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His body floated face up in the dark waters close to shore in the early morning light. He drifted in and out of unconsciousness, only partially aware that every inch of his body screamed in agony. His ears ringed, he couldn’t hear the slight lapping of water on his burnt face or the seagulls squawking overhead.
> 
> He tried to recall the circumstances that had brought him there but he couldn’t. He should have been panicked when all he saw was darkness upon attempting to open his eyes, but he wasn’t. He felt himself slipping…slowly. He wondered if he were dying, he let his eyes close again and rested in the emptiness. He felt far from anything that chained him to the pain of this world. If this was death, he would welcome it quickly. His lungs screamed at the small breath he took, letting himself fall into unconsciousness. 
> 
> Free, finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, bare with me, XD I flat out hate the first few chapters now that I re-read them. Things DO get better though, I promise. (At least I think they do xD) Enjoy~
> 
> I'm currently revising all the chapters here, namely the first few, because they suck. ;)

His body floated face up in the dark waters close to shore in the early morning light. He drifted in and out of unconsciousness, only partially aware that every inch of his body screamed in agony. His ears ringed, he couldn't hear the slight lapping of water on his burnt face or the seagulls squawking overhead.

He tried to recall the circumstances that had brought him there but he couldn't. He should have been panicked when all he saw was darkness upon attempting to open his eyes, but he wasn't. He felt himself slipping…slowly. He wondered if he were dying, he let his eyes close again and rested in the emptiness. He felt far from anything that chained him to the pain of this world. If this was death, he would welcome it quickly. His lungs screamed at the small breath he took, letting himself fall into unconsciousness.

Free, finally.

* * *

The flicking of the fluorescent light overhead slowly pulled Toad to consciousness, his vision blinded by pulsating light till a head blocked out the view. He groaned slightly, his limbs ached in an awkward, stiff attempt to move and he felt dizzy with a pounding headache. Unable to make out the face of the person above him, he assumed it was Mystique. He squeezed his eyes shut and blinked a few times trying to clear his vision, eventually just leaving them shut.

The last thing he remembered was the battle he'd been electrocuted and tossed into the water by. He wondered where he was now, were they in the same place they were before? Reaching up he felt the breathing mask over his mouth and nose for the first time and inhaled a shallow breath that came out in a dry cough. He moved to sit up but exhaustion and pain hit him.

"He's awake!"

His muscles tensed, not recognizing the voice that spoke.

"Of course he's awake, he's moving."

He tried to lay as still as possible in the small hope they might think he was still unconscious.

"Well, I don't know! I'm not the doctor here." Somewhere to his left what sounded like a young girl huffed.

When someone tried to pull his eyelid open he swatted the hand away in a weak attempt of defense. He squinted at the two figures leaning over him,

"Damn it, Dahlia. We don't need another hostile prick here,"

"You startled him!" The younger voice protested. "How would you like for a random person to poke you in the eye?"

"I didn't poke his eye." The other voice retorted.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" He spoke hoarsely.

It felt wrong to speak, the dry air clawing at his vocal cords and sending him into a fury of coughs. Vision clearing just a bit he could just make out the large brown eyes and blond hair of the girl leaning over his face.

"Be careful! You'll hurt yourself."

Toad pulled at the oxygen mask on his face in an attempt to get it off. He tried to sit up again in a panic but the girl pushed him back down without much effort at all. His head hit the pillow and he groaned, head throbbing.

"Sorry! Did I hurt you?"

"No!" He snapped, gasping at the pain that was erupting in his skull. "Didn't bloody hurt me..." He rasped.

She pulled back away from the bed and furrowed her eyebrows in concern. A pair of surprisingly cat-like ears pulled back slightly in uncertainty as she scooted closer to the bed again.

His eyes darted around. Where the hell was he? Who the hell were they? The walls and floor were bare and his mattress was sitting on the floor with an oxygen tank beside him. Last he could remember Magneto hadn't been planning on bringing anyone else into the Brotherhood for a bit and this definitely was not where they were staying last.

He pressed the oxygen mask to his face trying to catch his breath, feeling dizzy now. Looking over to his right he saw a woman who looked to be in her late fifties. Grey scales covered half her body and one of her eyes.

The scaled side of her mouth pulled back in annoyance and she wrote something down on a notebook that looked like humidity had warped the pages over time.

"How are you feeling? Don't try anything stupid." She hissed and Dahlia glowered at her.

"Don't be rude," She said in a low voice as if he wouldn't be able to hear her right beside him.

"Shitfaced," He jerked his head away when she tried to shine the light at his eye again.

"Let me look at your eyes!" She snapped. "I need to make sure your pupils dilate right. You should be able to take the breathing mask once you get used to breathing normally again, you've been in coma a while." She had him follow her finger as she shined the light into his eyes. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Not tellin' you," He retorted breathlessly, he had been trying to sound tough but failed miserably. The other girl placed a hand on his arm and he shrugged her off quickly, angrily. "Don't touch me!" He snapped at the girl and she pulled away suddenly, ears turned back with wide eyes.

"Hey!" The elderly woman barked the words out so harshly it almost made him forget to breathe. "She saved your life so if I were you I'd be damned if I didn't show her some respect. Am I clear?"

He got a sour expression on his face, reluctant to respond.

"Am I clear?" She repeated herself when he only glared in response.

"Yes m'am," He said with a surly expression, like he didn't really mean it. It sounded like he muttered a sarcastic remark too, but his accent covered whatever he'd been trying to say.

"Now, do you remember your name? Or do we have another problem on our hands?"

"Toad," He coughed again, his lungs screaming with the constant use.

" _Real_  name." The woman glared, clutching the pen in her hand so tightly he thought it might break.

"Mortimer," He glared back.

"Dahlia, get him some water."

"Yes m'am!" The girl hopped up and he watched a sandy brown tail curl around her leg before she darted off between a couple other dirty mattresses. The woman followed his gaze before she continued.

"You've been out a good six months. Dahlia found you washed up on shore when she went for food one morning." The lady pointed at the girl that came back up to them with a bottle of water.

He looked over towards and she smiled kindly back at him. He squinted at her face, was she smiling at him? He questioned her sanity for saving him briefly before the elderly woman started to speak again.

"I'm Dr. Betsy, I don't have many resources down  _here_  and in the current state I'm in I can't very well get  _any_ ," She narrowed her eyes at him. "But I'll do my best to see you have a full recovery."

Six months? Good god…where was Magneto and Mystique? He was shocked by the coma and hurt that neither Magneto nor Mystique had tried to pull him from the water but he knew he shouldn't have been, it was just business.

He looked back at Dahlia stupidly, she still smiled. The bloody hell she was smilin' at him for? He scowled at her.

"What day is it?" He attempted to breathe in deeply, looking back to Betsy.

"November 1st, I know this may be a shock. Do you have any family or friends you would like us to take you to, if we're able?" She was really just trying to see if he had anyone they could dump him on. "Keep in mind we're not very trusting of anyone we don't know."

He turned his eyes to the grey, cement ceiling, a pang of loneliness spread through his chest.

"No," He said, pushing out the thoughts of Magneto and Mystique and the big lug that called himself Sabertooth. Who knew where they were now, dead for all he knew.

Betsy smiled at him fake polite and pulled back the sheets at his feet. "Can you wiggle your toes for me?"

He did as she asked, glad she didn't comment on his webbed feet though felt terribly self-conscious when Dahlia stared. She looked back to his face to find him glaring at her and her cheeks flushed red, eyes turned down.

"Great…" She pulled out a needle from the rubber of her shoe and pricked him in the leg with it quickly.

"Ow! Bloody hell was that for?" He pushed himself quickly, only to fall back on the bed in a coughing fit that felt like it was trying to tear his chest open.

"Pain stimuli responses are good…" She wrote something down in her notebook and pulled a plessor mallet out and tapped his knee with it, probably harder than she needed to.

"Ah!" He grabbed his knee, staring at her with hatred. If he hadn't been so weak he might of tried to take her out right there.

"Patellar reflexes are amazing. Judging from your appearance you're obviously a mutant," She laughed a bit and he sent an icy glare at her, feeling her comment was ill-meant. "We never would have let you down here if we didn't think so. Dahlia here's got a big heart, too big if you ask me, we have enough trouble caring for our own as it is." Betsy stuffed her mallet back into her pocket and pushed herself up off the floor. "I hope you enjoy your stay here and contribute something back to us when you can, Mr. Mortimer."

He glowered at her while she walked away and managed to kick the sheets back over his feet. Dahlia reached over and straightened them out for him; he eye'd her help suspiciously.

"She's just seen a lot of bad things, don't worry about her. I'm sorry for her rudeness; she's really nice when you actually get to know her." Dahlia said.

She was too friendly, he didn't like that. It made him uncomfortable, she should have just left him off to die in the water but she didn't, and now he was here.

'Women, always stickin' their bloody noses where they don't belong.' He thought, as much as didn't want to admit it though, he was thankful she'd saved him.

Dahlia shifted uncomfortably when he didn't say anything.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, "Dr. Betsy said you could have some real food once you woke up."

 _Real food? Ah, right, it'd be hard to live for six months without somethin' to eat._  He cringed at the idea of a feeding tube or however they were doin' it, he didn't care to know. The next thing his mind went to was the catheter he would obviously need. He groaned aloud, he must seem so pitiful.

"I'm sorry, am I annoying you? I can go?" Dahlia raised her eyebrows and her ears tilted back again. He stared at her.  _She_  was concerned about annoying  _him?_

He felt himself laugh and she looked on in confusion and what appeared to be concern.

"Food sounds good," He replied.

"Alright! I'll be right back; I'll talk to Dr. Betsy soon to see when we can start trying to get you walking again if you can't already."

He watched her hop up and her tail curled around her leg again before she scurried away. He took the chance to open the water bottle and take a drink to sooth his throat. These people were already starting to treat him better than Magneto but he wasn't letting his guard down, he knew how people were.

He closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath his lungs screamed in protest. At least the pounding in his head was starting to subside.

It felt like forever it took her to come back. He watched her kneel back down beside him with a bowl of cut up fruit and a bottle of tea, not his ideal dinner but it would do. He felt starved and beyond exhausted but managed to perch himself up on his elbow and eat slowly anyway.

"Sorry it took so long, I stopped to talk to Ms. Betsy, she said that it really just depended on your ability to recover when you would be walking again. She said when you feel well rested enough that we can give it a try."

He watched her talk more than listened. Blond hair fell a few inches below her chin and was tucked behind her ear with bangs parted to the side. He wondered how old she was; she looked young, maybe late teens, seventeen or eighteen. He himself was in his late twenties, twenty-seven to be exact.

"I'm sorry it's not much, we're running kind of low on food lately. I was supposed to go look for something of my own today but when Ms. Betsy said that you were showing signs of awareness I wanted to stay around in case you woke up." She wrestled with a bottle of tea, trying to get it open and he wondered why she was bothering with that since he already had water. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked, scrunching up her face trying to twist the cap off. "Do you need some Advil or anything? I just got some the other day, I'm not sure where it's at though, things always get moved here. We're all really good people, I think you'll like it here."

He reached out to take it from her and her ears pricked in alarm then seemed to relax in realization. It took him a moment, but he got the cap off despite his weakness. He held it back out to her and she blinked in confusion. Raising an eyebrow he nodded at his water bottle and her eyes lit up in realization. She took it from him and took a sip.

"Thank you," She said sheepishly, "Advil? If I can find it?"

"No," He replied, not wanting her to leave just yet. She seemed like the type to get lost searching for something anyway. He watched her carefully and she eyed the fruit hungrily, rattling off into some other topic now. Cor, she talked a lot.

Toad held the bowl out to her suddenly and she stopped midsentence.

" 'ere, take some."

She seriously seemed to consider it for a moment but then shook her head, blond hair swaying side to side.

"No thank you, you should eat to get your strength back, the less time you spend around this room the better, all the sick people stay here and everyone is sick right now. Betsy thinks it's just some type of virus though, not too bad. Though maybe for the kids and older people," She furrowed her eyebrows and seemed to think really hard about something. "I think." She finally said.

He took a ragged breath before coughing and pulled his breathing mask back over his face for a few moments before he reached to turn the machine off.

"Are you sure you're fine without it?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

"I'll live." He laid back down with exhaustion overwhelming him, he felt like sleeping but the fear of wasting another six months in coma kept him from doing so. Pushing the bowl towards her with his fingertips he closed his eyes despite his better judgement."Come on, skinny enough as it is you are."

Truth be told she was starving as well. Food was scarce at the moment and a lot of them where sick. Last time she had gone above ground she'd tried to collect as much as she could without stealing but had resorted to running off with a basket of strawberries an elderly lady was selling out side of her shop.

She felt terribly guilty about the whole thing. As things were getting colder more and more homeless people were dumpster diving for the food that retailers had thrown out for not meeting size or other standards, most of which was still in good condition.

She hesitantly took the bowl and picked out the last remaining strawberries quickly. Sucking the juice off one of her fingers she watched him start to doze off again as hard as he tried to fight it. She reached over and pulled the blanket up over his shoulder to keep him warm and wondered if it was a good idea that she let him sleep.

She smiled weakly, just glad he was awake. Callisto had said that if he didn't wake up in another month they were going to toss him in the snow for wasting too many of their good resources. Standing up with her bowl she made her way back to the room she shared with her friend, Jinx, in an abandoned subway train.

Jinx was a tall girl with black hair that reached her waist; she was really quite beautiful with striking blue skin and white eyes. Despite having been her roommate for about two years, she still hadn't the slightest idea if her mutations stretched beyond that. Jinx kept to herself a lot of the time, she was sarcastic and pretty vain but thankfully Dahlia was just the type of person to tolerate such people, probably why Callisto had paired the two up.

Dahlia pushed back the curtain that had been hung up between sections of five or so seats on either side. This curtain and the one on the other side of the chairs was what marked off their 'room' so to speak. Jinx was stretched out on the bed she had made of the chairs. Dahlia didn't know how she managed to sleep in such a small place, she herself had ended up making her bed on the floor out of various blankets and a couple pillows, partially under the seats to try and stay out the walk way.

Dahlia set her bowl on the set of chairs above her bed. Pushed into the corner of the seats was a small, neat pile of clothing: a baggy pair of jeans and a long skirt for when she wished to roam outside, a wide head band to hide her ears, a couple extra shirts and shorts, a pair of sweats for when it got cold, and a pair of pink and white striped socks. She didn't own much else and very rarely had the chance to wash anything.

She reached over to the lantern Jinx had carelessly left on and turned it off. A small battery powered digital clock blinked 10:00 PM next to a picture of her and her parents when she was normal. She crawled under her covers and buried her face into her pillow happily, hopeful that maybe things would get better from here.


	2. Chapter 2

Dahlia walked into the room Toad resided in and smiled seeing him sitting up and flipping through an old magazine. She noticed that the various medical equipment that had been by his bed last night wasn't there anymore. He looked up as she approached and bit into an apple.

"G'morning!" She chimed brightly with a grin that made him inclined to scowl at her. "How did you sleep?"

"Like I was in a coma," He grunted, taking another bite. Dahlia sat beside his mattress, either too dense to pick up on his sarcasm or flat out ignoring it.

"You seem to be doing well! I'm really glad!" She bobbed side to side slightly. "We were going to throw you in the snow if you didn't wake up soon!"

He gaped at her for a moment. "Wonderful. Where'r m'clothes?"

"They're in my room; I stuffed them under my bed so I wouldn't lose them." She glanced down at his chest for a moment before snapping her eyes back up to his. He continued to scowl at her. "I can get them if you like; I washed them a while ago." She didn't mention it was because they totally reeked.

"Don't look at me like that." She pouted. "Your face will get stuck like that."

"S'pose it's already set?" He countered. "When can I leave?"

"Uhmm…Well…not for a bit…" She pressed the ends of her fingers together before jerking her hand back and shaking it like she'd been hurt. She paused with widened eyes at the look of anger building on his face. She pulled back quickly and jumped up.

"What're you plannin' on doin' with me?" He demanded then fell silent when Betsy approached, throwing an arm around Dahlia.

"We don't plan on doing anything with you, Mr. Mortimer." She narrowed her eyes at him "But we don't trust you."

"I d—" Betsy cupped a hand over Dahlia's mouth and she wrestled with her scaly hand. "Ah, yes Dahlia. You trust everyone, we're quite aware of that."

"So what's that mean for me? Jus' gonna keep me 'ere for how long?" He pushed to sit up all the way but winced at the painful tingling that shot up his spine and down his legs.

"Give it a couple of weeks, maybe less." Betsy shrugged carelessly, "If we trust you, we'll let you go. Besides, you don't honestly think you'll make it out there on your own at this time, do you?" She smirked, seeing the flicker of a pained expression on his face.

"And s'pose you don't?" He eased himself back down. A muscle in his leg clenched itself tightly and he had to press his teeth together to stop himself from reacting. "Then what?"

Betsy gave him a smile that, when countered with the pain he was already in, made him want to knock her teeth out.

"Well if you give us no reason not to trust you, then you don't have to worry about that, now will you?" She let Dahlia go and started to walk away.

"If you don't?" He repeated to Dahlia and she shifted uncomfortably under his glare.

"I don't know," She said nervously, a bit too quickly and plopped back down on the floor next to him to take his hand. "Don't worry though! There's no reason they shouldn't trust you."

Dahlia did know full well what they would do though; if they found a reason not to trust him they would kill him. The idea made her heart sink; this world was so very difference from the one she came from. The people here appeared to be a step away from savages sometimes but she knew it was just the cost they paid to survive and keep their members safe.

When he didn't answer right away she stared, following his gaze to her hand on his. She let his hand go promptly and he immediately thought she was disgusted. He glared down at his magazine bitterly and opened it so he could direct his attention elsewhere.

Of course, wouldn't want to touch warty Morty, now would we? He thought bitterly, that's what they'd called him back at the orphanage.

"You're a bad liar, sweetheart." His bitterness made its way into his voice and came off harsher than he intended.

"We're not trying to hurt you…You know." She looked down forlornly and didn't seem intent on speaking after that.

He regretted himself with a sinking feeling. Annoying ball of sunshine or not, it felt wrong to snuff out her little flame. It made him reconsider how he'd been acting. Obviously neither Magneto nor Mystique had planned on pulling him from the water and if they really had been tending to him for such a long time…Well, maybe she was telling the truth. The thought warmed him a bit but he wouldn't let himself fall prey to the idea that somebody would care for him with nothing to gain. Instead he set himself on getting to know his "captors."

" How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen. I turn twenty in December…" She glanced up at him a bit curiously.

He felt pleasantly surprised to find out her age; at least it made him a little bit less of a perv, right? He smirked, like he cared. "Sagittarius?"

She shook her head. "Capricorn."

"Ah," He looked down at his magazine fixedly and Dahlia thought he was finding the "How to Impress Your Man" section a bit too intriguing; unless, of course, he was into that kind of thing. "When's y'birthday?"

"The twenty-fifth." The tip of her tail twitched side to side slowly in curiosity. Why the sudden change? "I was born on Christmas."

"Must a been a sterlin' gift for y'mum, huh?" He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. No body honestly ended up where they were without losing contact with family, normally in a terrible way. He glared at his magazine with cheeks burning, despising himself.

Dahlia seemed to pick up on the way he tensed and smiled encouragingly then leaned forward a bit. He's head snapped up, startled by her movement. She nodded in hope to cure whatever embarrassment he felt; she really hated to see people uncomfortable, especially around her.

"Mhm, she was very happy. She always wanted a girl." She changed the topic quickly though. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

"Oh? That's my friend Jinx's age! I think…wait…" She lit up brightly then stopped to ponder it with furrowed brows. "Actually, I think she might be twenty-two….or twenty-one…"

"…That's a tad bit a ways from twenty-seven, love." She was one step off her rocker, that was for certain. "Goin' somewhere?" He nodded at the wide fabric headband and floor length black skirt that hid her ears and tail.

"I'm supposed to go looking for food today…I'd ask you to come…but.." She bit her lip and her face fell again. "I'm really sorry."

"S'okay, I'll manage." He tried to bite back the harsh tone he always carried. "S'not like I'd get very far."

"I'll get some great food this time for sure!" She said, lighting up with a smile. He felt more relieved than he should have to see her back to herself.

"I bet you will," He said airily and looked over her tiny body; it was obvious she hadn't been eating much. "You'll be alright out there? On your own, I mean."

She blinked. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She seemed somewhat insulted.

"Well, You're a stick."

"I'll be fine!" She huffed.

"Say's th' scrawny thing in fronta me."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

"Well alright then, little miss teenager. Why don't you take your rolling eyes and pull me off a blanket from that bed over there." He nodded to the uninhabited mattress behind her. "Bloody cold in 'ere if you ask me."

Dahlia complied eagerly and tossed the blanket over him before he could say anything else. "Oh shush, you sound like my dad."

"Now, sweetheart, I'm only 'round what? Seven, maybe eight years older than you? That's hardly fair." Dahlia laughed and he felt an unwelcome swell of pride that he'd made her laugh. It had been a while since he had a conversation like this. One that didn't center around work or mutant affairs…One that was just friendly.

"You should meet my friend Jinx when you get a chance. We share a room together, did I say that already? I don't remember." She hesitated; she really needed to get a move on to look for food but wanted to stay and talk to him.

"Is that so?" He said and laid back on the bed with his arms propping up his head.

She had a slight glare in her eyes. "You're not even listening."

"Well, S'not my fault y'talk so much." He said with closed eyes and a yawn. He opened an eye slightly when she didn't respond. "S'a joke." He told her and she just glowered at him. He got the feeling it wasn't a real mean expression though. Emotions flinted across her face constantly and almost always seemed exaggerated.

"Ass," She mumbled and he looked at her sideways.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Nothing," She bit back a guilty smile and jumped up. "I gotta go get food! See you!"

"Bring me back a shirt, will you?" He called out but she had already turned the corner. "Or not…" He muttered to himself and turned back to his girly magazine.

It was an issue from years ago and had a lot of weird articles about fall fashion and coupon clipping. He closed it again and tossed it to the side, throwing an arm over his eyes. He really wished they would have given him something less girly to read, fashion and coupon clipping weren't really in his book of interesting topics.

He rested for a bit and let his mind trail over their conversation. As much as he was suspicious of her, he was drawn to her friendliness. Looking out into the room most people had moved out, the virus apparently clearing up. Now all that was left was a man that had been asleep since he'd gotten there and a few kids and an old woman who didn't look particularly sick but seemed to hang around and care for them.

Running a hand through his spikey, short hair, he stretched his legs out slowly; they felt like they had fallen asleep for too long, only the feeling hadn't left his legs since he woke up. Betsy had been kind enough to help get him to his feet earlier, but he only managed a few steps before it became unbearable, like walking with bits of glass embedded in his leg.

He expected to be doing better than this; he'd never taken long to heal at all. He had considered it to be part of his mutation. It had already been six months in coma…he wondered how badly off he really was and how much he would actually recover.

The air was crisp and the sharp wind that swept down the alley way stung her eyes when she first climbed out into the open. She closed the manhole quickly behind her and made sure the coast was clear before she wandered out into the open. An old fabric grocery bag hung from her shoulder. Her first task would be to find something to eat, since it was the most important.

She made her way towards the back of an organic store and pushed open the lid to look for food. She rummaged around till she found a tied up grocery bag with fruit that had been tossed she assumed from not meeting the stores size requirement for the fruit they sold. She grimaced, trying to avoid the left over lunch that had been tossed from the previous day.

"When we learned about Freeganism in school I never thought I'd be doing it…" She said aloud to herself and smiled at the man who was taking out a bag of trash. He saw her every now and then; from his name tag she knew his name was Scott. He smiled at her, nodded his greetings and fixed the sunglasses he always wore.

He was actually a huge help to her, sometimes smuggling food out of the store such as sardines or crackers for her to take home, she'd gotten him to stop in fear he would lose his job though. Sometimes he even gave her money and had offered her a place to stay a few times, but that had been after she'd met the Morlocks and she didn't quite know this boy well enough. She ended up telling him she had found a place to stay.

"Doing all right?" He asked. He really did have a charming smile.

"Better than ever." She said and he dropped the trash bag he was hauling to the dumpster. "And yourself?"

"Great." He placed his fists on his hips and nodded at the bag she held in her hands. "I figured you might come around soon," He walked to the side of the dumpster and pulled out a paper bag. "Made some of the sandwiches wrong this morning, mixed the gluten bread with the gluten-free." He shrugged, "Glad I caught it, would have been terrible if someone got a hold of it. Thought I'd hide it in case you came by though."

Dahlia took the bag and restrained herself from looking in it hungrily. "Thank you! I'm glad you thought of me."

Scott smiled back and picked the trash bag up again and slung it over his shoulder. "No problem, don't go through this one though, it's nothing you'd want to eat."

"Okay." Dahlia nodded her understanding with the sweetest smile she could muster up.

"Well, see you." He gave a small wave and another charming smile and threw the bag into the dumpster.

"See you." She smiled back and bit her lip to keep from smiling too broadly. She reminded herself that she was a mutant, he wasn't. It was exciting to have him help her but she knew it was best to keep her distance.

The cold wrapped around her toes even from through the sneakers she wore and she regretted not listening to Mortimer's sock suggestion. She'd been barefooted at the time though, so she hadn't really considered it when she put sneakers on.

The city was always busy regardless of what part you were in. The act of being around so many new people after staying underground for so long always liberated her. Back in high school she had been a social butterfly. She was the class president and in all sorts of clubs as well as top of her class. She thrived off people and she still did. She smiled at the woman who she walked by watering her flowers. She only glowered back. That was the downside to the city; people weren't always the friendliest, even if you were.

Ding. Her ears pricked from under her head band when the doorbell to the store she entered went off. She fixed her headband in the nervous thought that her ears might become visible. The store employee eyed her old bag with suspicion for a moment but went back to her magazine when Dahlia smiled at her. Honestly, if people were just friendlier, that would open up all sorts of opportunities for them and people would be friendly back. At least that was Dahlia's belief, maybe it was true, maybe it wasn't, she had always been a rather naïve person though. Trusted people too much, but in return people trusted her.

Dahlia walked to the electronics in the back, nothing but a small section of batteries, headphones, audio cables and cheap phone chargers were present. She picked up a pack and, positioning herself so the security camera couldn't see her, she tore it open and emptied the contents into her back. She took another and did the same just to make sure they would be set for another few months.

Most of the time Jinx wasn't even home at night and Dahlia didn't need the lantern. Dahlia didn't have the slightest idea where she went but she always came back before sun rise. Her roommate was a very secretive person but she respected that.

Scott kicked his feet up on the coffee table once he was back at home in the Xavier mansion and turned the TV on. The news raged on about the controversial issue of if mutant students should be allowed into the school system or not. He shook his head as Jean walked in and leaned against the wall.

"I can't believe they're still going on about this crap." He said angrily and flipped the station.

"You know how the media is; they like to milk a story for everything its worth."

About a month ago a mutant student who had been picked on for years finally cracked and burned the side of his bullies face. He could have gone the rest of his life and nobody would have ever known about his mutation if that incident hadn't happened. The news went on, and on, and on, and on about it and the constant updates for his trial and what officials were going to do and how the investigator was going.  
Scott knew, and the professor knew, and they all knew that the student had only defended himself, but the news would never let on to that and it would never let on that he was bullied and threatened constantly. That's just how things were for them now.

He shook his head angrily, wishing they had gotten to the boy before the police did, maybe they could have helped him.

Jean placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a short massage. "You're tense, boss still giving you problems?"

"Yeah, it was my fault today though. I got the gluten bread mixed up with the non-gluten."

"That's not good."

"Tell me about it, almost got fired." He placed his hands over his face with a groan.

"Maybe you should suck up to her a bit. You're cute; use some of your charm." She teased.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." He laughed and rubbed his eyebrows. "Not only that, there is this girl that keeps stopping by and pulling food out of the dumpster. She comes by all the time, I think she's a mutant."

"What makes you think that?"

He leaned back into the sofa and stared long and hard at the TV.

"Just a feeling, I guess you could say, something's just not normal about her. I wanted to talk to professor about it, she said she has a place to stay but it looks like she's starving."

"Maybe you should talk to professor then, it couldn't hurt."

"Yeah, you're right."

Jean placed a hand on his head before starting to head back out. "Dinner is ready by the way if you feel up for eating." She said over her shoulder.

"Alright, thanks. I'll be there in a second."

Toad was up and walking now, slowly and with frequent, painful breaks, but walking none the less. It had been three days now since he'd first woken up and was already starting to see some improvements, though not many.

Dahlia left around nine or ten that morning, he couldn't really recall, his mind still felt fuzzy. He found himself worrying about her with some remorse; it was well past eight now. He cursed himself for concerning himself with this girl; she was just some dimwit blond who'd….well, saved his life. Toad pulled the corner of his mouth up in annoyance. Okay, yeah, he had to give her some credit for that.

Though he was both surprised and relieved that the people here were letting him roam around, he felt uneasy at how closely they watched him. He snorted. They probably only let him walk around in the first place because he could hardly walk, wasn't like he was running off any time soon.

He had yet to really meet anyone else except for one guy down where they kept all the other sick people. Most the others kept away from him. They'd played cards together for a while before he'd eventually asked if Toad wanted help getting back on his feet. He'd denied the help but regretted it later when he struggled to pick himself up and go look for Dahlia.

He leaned against a wall feeling more than exhausted and let himself slid to the floor. He should have just stayed with card man. His legs throbbed with pain mercilessly and his head pounded along with them. He cursed Storm and everything she was. Oh, if she gave him permanent nerve damage from zapping him like she did, he'd kill her.

" 'Ey you, blue girl" He called to a girl with blue skin as she walked the opposite side of the corridor from him. What was with all the bloody, blue mutants? It seemed to be evolution's color of choice. It was an obnoxiously over powering color compared to normal skin but he wished for it instead of the green, blotchy skin he had now.

Jinx looked him over with apparent disgust and he clenched his teeth. He almost spat some nasty comments at her but decided it was best to keep his mouth shut in case she was part of the committee that decided if he lived or not. But then she spoke.

"Gross, what are you supposed to be, the jolly green giant?"

He gave her the meanest expression he could sum up. "Freak of nature yourself sweetheart. Dahlia, y'know her?"

"Why wouldn't I? She's been here for like what, two years?"

"Wonderful, spare me the chitchat. See 'er recently?"

"Not since this morning," She shrugged carelessly and folded her arms. "Maybe she got kidnapped. She's pretty stupid."

Toad clenched his teeth even harder and pushed himself up off the floor. "Thanks f'the bloody help." He said sarcastically and limped away.

He followed the sound of Betsy's voice coming from around the corner. He was met with a large hole in the wall that opened up into what looked like an abandoned subway station lit dimly by torches and the occasional lantern.

"What did I tell you? You're too damn trusting of people; you're going to get yourself killed."

Dahlia sat on the floor with Betsy looking at the bruise that spread across her left cheek and a swell of protectiveness hit him.

"I'm fiiinneeeeee." Dahlia whined and pouted when she seen Toad walk in. She was happy he was up and walking now but at the moment she was far too annoyed at being babied to show it. "I scared him off when he saw I was a mutant; he didn't even get away with anything!" She pulled some food out of her bag. "Look! I even got sandwiches this time."

Betsy sighed in exasperation and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Wot 'appened to y'face?" Toad asked and crouched down in front of her like was his normal though his legs screamed their protest. He took her face in his hand suddenly and turned her head to look at the damage.

"Just some guy on the street…" She said through smooshed lips the way he held her face. "Lemmeh go."

Toad squinted at the bruise, noticing there were small cuts in it. "The bloody hell he hit you with?!"

"His fist…he had a lot of rings on. I'm fine though!"

I'll kill 'em, Toad thought, glowering at her face in a way that made her shift uneasily.

"How are you fine? You're a step 'way from losin' a bloody eye!"

"I am not! I fought him off! He just caught me off guard." She protested, slapping his hand away so she didn't have to stay looking like a fish.

Toad opened his mouth to argue with her when Betsy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't argue with her Mr. Mortimer, when she's got her mind set, she's got her mind set."

He cringed inwardly when she called him Mortimer instead of Toad. He shrugged her hand off and she wiped her hand off on her pants.

"Ah, you're stubborn, so that's it."

"I am not stubborn!" She puffed up and he gave a short, almost mocking laugh.

"You are stubborn, listen to you!"

"Ugh," Dahlia rolled her eyes and gave up.

"Oh, don't be such a teenager." He clicked his tongue and chuckled, getting a kick out of her frustration.

"I'm almost twenty!"

"Twenty-twenty-one my arse, tha's practically still teen years, love."

"You're not even that old!" She pouted and turned her face from him angrily.

"Wha'?" He sneered at her; she was behaving like a little girl. He cocked his head to the side. "Not even a lil'bit happy I'm walkin' now?" Much to his pleasure he heard Betsy's low laugh behind him, obviously finding her behavior as humorous as he was.

"Ugh, I'm glad to see you're walking…" She said reluctantly.

"There now, wasn't so bad, was it?" He smirked and she couldn't keep from smiling at him. He was kind of charming, wasn't he? You know, if you got past the green skin and…well, everything…Maybe it was because he was British, even if his accent was rather rough, not so proper and refined like she would imagine say, royalty.

They looked at each other happily for a moment before Betsy cleared her throat. Toad's smile vanished quickly.

"Dahlia, don't you think Leech and some of Annalee's other children might like some of that?" She nodded at the bag of food Dahlia had beside her.

"Oh! Right!" She picked up the bag and hurried away, leaving Toad to watch her leave with self-reproach; He enjoyed the encounter way more than he should have.

"Mr. Mortimer," Betsy took a few steps towards the entrance and turned to face him. "I don't know what your intentions with Dahlia are, but I'll have you know, we're very protective of our family here and Dahlia is like a daughter to me. Tread lightly."

"Y'aven't got nothin' to worry 'bout." He mumbled, standing up slowly from pain. "Don't even need t'bother."

Betsy watched him closely as he walked towards the exit of the room to follow Dahlia. She took a deep, wary breath. In many ways she viewed Dahlia like a daughter, when her mutations started showing up so late in life she had been driven away from her career and family, leaving behind three girls of her own. Her heart ached for them every day and she wished she could protect them like she did Dahlia. Dahlia might have been close to twenty and very well capable of making her own decisions in life, but she knew that she still had the naïve perspective of the world that only came with youth.


	3. Chapter 3

Dahlia sat with her back against the wall of the empty subway station. She flipped through the warped pages of the magazine Toad had read a week ago with the light of a lantern between her and him. Toad was crouched in front of an electrical box that had blown out ages ago, leaving the subway station in the dark except for the various torches and lanterns they had placed to see. He had graciously offered to re-wire it for them so they could take advantage of the city's electricity again.

The week had gone by rather uneventfully. In her eyes Toad had officially made friends with her and Betsy even though they were always somewhat snarky at each other; others in their community were following slowly behind in terms of accepting him. Though truthfully he was withdrawn and quiet, often opting to observe rather than participate, she held to her belief that if he were just a little less stand-offish maybe the people would be more accepting of him.

She knew it had very little to do with his appearance, he was attractive by a long feat when compared to some of the people here. She watched him squint at the electrical box through the goggles she'd found hanging around his neck when she first found him. She wondered how well he seen in the dim light of the subway compared to her, the glasses magnified his already large eyes to twice that.

He looked at her briefly, admiring the way the light flashed off her eyes. He loved a good mutant girl but the way she observed his features made him squirm inside.

"Not polite to stare," He said gruffly, breaking her trance. Dahlia's ears pricked and her eyes darted back to her magazines.

"I can't believe all these tricks they have for coupons," Dahlia flipped the magazine around to show him a picture even though it was something he had already seen before. "I could actually go into the store with a ton of food and not have to spend anything." Dahlia mused; she was really just embarrassed she'd been caught staring.

"I'm sure that'd be loads of help now," He replied sarcastically, "What with all the shoppin' you do."

"Oh shush," She stuck her tongue out at him. "So negative."

"Don't stick your tongue out at me. If you wanna play that game I'll hit you with mine." He reached over to bring the lantern closer to his work space so he could see. "You know love, if you really wanted you could just storm a market with a few mutants. You'd come back with more than enough food for your group 'ere."

Dahlia frowned a bit. "I don't condone stealing…Plus, we don't like to bring attention to ourselves."

He just gave a small shake of his head, tweaking a wire and thinking she was really quite ridiculous. The people down here were starving and more than capable of getting the food they needed. Hell, with a little help from Magneto Toad figured they wouldn't even have to live down here.

"Damn normies, think they're so much better than mutants. It's the opposite, if you ask me."

Dahlia watched his bitter expression for a moment with concern and thought carefully how to respond. Her eyes trailed over the faint electrical scars a few shades darker than his blotchy green skin, they branched from his mouth and down his neck like delicate roots, disappearing into his shirt. She wondered what had caused them but pushed the thought out of her mind, it wasn't really her business anyway. If she hadn't known better from her studies she would have thought it was just a tattoo. She chewed her lip in thought of the mutant in front of her, wondering what his story was. They all had a story, after all.

"I don't think either of us is really better than another. I think some people are just misguided…" She thought over the things that she had seen from the mutant and human side. Being her mutation came later in life than most she had a clear view of both. "People are always afraid of what they don't understand."

Toad remained silent and pretended to be engulfed in his work. The last thing he wanted to hear was that non-mutants were just misguided and were equal with him. He'd seen enough of them to know their intentions. They weren't afraid of what they didn't understand, they were afraid of what was better, more powerful than them.

Dahlia shifted uncomfortably and looked back down at her magazine for a few moments. She wondered what he thought of her views but didn't press him for it, hoping he wouldn't press her either. If that was something he wanted to believe…Well, maybe she'd better leave him to believe it, what business was it to her?

She flipped the page and a smile lit up her face again. She flipped the magazine around again to show him a pair of red stilettos and pearl earrings to go with it.

"I used to have a pair of these shoes," She pointed at the shoes on the page, "I wore them all the time in high school. They used to always ask how I could manage walking around in them all day." She gave a small laugh.

Toad only glanced at the shoes and mumbled 'that's nice,' actually engulfed in his mechanics now. Not that he would really care to hear what she said about her previously perfect, normal life anyway. He'd never even come close to something like that and the thought pained him, it was a hope he'd learned to disconnect himself from ages ago.

Dahlia couldn't help feeling a bit nostalgic, though. When they said things would be different once she got out of high school she never took them –this- literally. She lifted the magazine up again and pointed at some pearl earrings.

"I always wanted a pair of pearls; we could never afford them though."

"Lovely," He leaned in closer to his work, squinting to see.

"You're not even looking!" Dahlia protested.

Toad stopped what he was doing and tilted his head back with an exasperated look, elbows rested on his knees.

"They're lovely," He said in surrender, giving her a look of defeat.

Dahlia pressed her lips together to keep from grinning sheepishly. "Sorry,"

"Can I continue now? Or do I have to read along with you? I'd like to finish this," He leaned in again pulling the lantern even closer to him. "Before your friends decide I'm not worth a dime alive."

"Heeeyyy! You're taking all my light." She scooted in closer to him again. "I can't see –that- clearly in the dark, half these words are smudged too."

"You don't have to sit with me, you know. They have light elsewhere in this godforsaken place." He touched two wires together and they sparked. He looked up with a parted mouth when the lights overhead flickered but they went out again.

"Blast." He muttered.

"I don't want to leave you alone in the dark," She said, looking up at the lights then following the outline of a moth in the dark overhead. Toad followed her gaze in curiosity but only saw darkness. He looked back to his work, "I'm used to it,"

"The dark?"

"Being alone."

"Oh," She said deflated and they sat in silence for a few moments. He almost regretted saying it, but it was true. If it made her uncomfortable and drove her away, then good riddance.

Dahlia's left ear tilted back listening to a faint mechanical hum that she could never place the cause of. She watched him work and envied him. She'd always wanted to learn mechanics and electrical work, before her mutation she had planned on going to school for engineering and mechanics believe it or not. She chewed on her lip in thought, uncertain if she should ask what she was about to.

"Can you teach me?"

He stopped and looked at her in confusion, "Teach you what?" He bit the words off.

"How you're fixing it,"

He blinked, perplexed. Had he been an attractive guy he might have considered that she was trying to impress him but since that obviously wasn't the case he just looked at her. She didn't exactly give him the impression she was very bright. Bubbly? Yes. Bright? No.

"What you mean?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"What do you mean what do I mean?" She blinked back at him, furrowing her eyebrows a bit.

"Never mind then," Toad shook his head and decided to give up before he insulted her. "Come look."

Dahlia crawled to his side and peered into the electrical box. Unable to see his hands clearly she leaned her head in close to his. Her breath brushed against his ear and neck and he cursed himself when his hands started to sweat. He rubbed them on his pants, the last thing he needed was to get electrocuted again.

"You just…" He felt his heart jump and he couldn't believe himself. It'd been a while since he had any kind of nervous reaction to a girl, probably because Mystique was the only other girl he'd been around for ages. "You just…"

The last time he'd ended up like this he'd been in his early teens and had the biggest crush on a girl named Wanda. Of course she'd rejected him miserably, calling him all sorts of terrible names about how gross he was. The memory only made things worse and he felt it difficult to swallow. Was his mouth always this dry?

"I…?" Dahlia asked turning her face slightly to look at him, the tip of her tail twitched slowly back and forth, trying to figure him out. She could feel the heat radiating off his skin and her sensitive ears picked up the rapid beat of his heart.

He turned his face to look at hers dangerously close to his. His large, goggled, black-green eyes met hers and he felt stuck. Her heart beat jumped with the closeness and blush spread across her cheeks when she felt herself lean in without thought. He glanced down to soft lips for a moment too long and she suddenly understood his reaction. She straightened herself up quickly, embarrassed by herself.

"I see! You just…" She struggled to look for words. "Take that wire…and…yeah!"

"Yeah," He looked at her dumbfounded. Was she about to kiss him? She'd leaned in. No, look how quickly she pulled away. His lips formed a thin line in self-reproach. Of course not, why the bloody hell would he even think that. Blast it, he was better off dead. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and silence his thoughts. After he'd almost committed suicide years ago, he knew that was no place to let his mind wander.

Dahlia took in the sore expression he wore now with confusion and remorse. She tried to think of a way to bridge the gap between them now.

"How did you learn to do this?"

"Taught myself," He replied shortly.

"Really?" Dahlia raised her eyebrows, trying to look more impressed that she really was. Not that she wasn't impressed, just that her mind still lingered on the embarrassing encounter.

"Yes, really."

Dahlia pressed her lips together. "You still haven't told me much about yourself."

"I think that's hardly fair considering you are the one keeping me against my will."

"It's not really me,"

He took a deep breath before things got out of hand, not quite ready to drive her off just yet.

"Tell me about yourself,"

"Well…My full name is Dahlia K Fox."

"Fox?"

"Yup,"

"That's kind of ironic, isn't it?" He glanced at her ears. "Considering your mutation."

"Isn't it?" She laughed and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"What's the K stand for?"

"Oh, it's just K."

"Just K?" He raised an eyebrow, tweaking a wire and she nodded.

"My parents never decided on a middle name. Growing up they called me by various middle names, Kennedy, Kelly, Kentucky…nothing ever stuck."

"…I'm sorry, Kentucky?"

"Yeah…" She paused, "That one was short-lived."

He laughed shortly at stupidity of it and she gave him a half-smile, at least he found some kind of amusement from her.

"What else about you...'ow'd your mutation show up, wot happened?"

Dahlia paused for a moment too long and he almost regretted asking, she started up quickly though and Toad couldn't help thinking she seemed entirely too perky at times.

"Well, when I was going to high school my ears and stuff just started changing," She paused to pick up her tail. "Eventually I had to start staying home because it became too obvious; it was a while before I actually…" She made a strange face and stroked her tail, letting strands of fur fall from her hand. "You know, got fur." She grimaced, though she knew were lucky her ears and tail were the only place fur appeared, his mutation covered his body.

He stayed silent listening to her. She made it sound so simple, the way it happened, like she was fine with it all. Maybe she was, he would love that about her if that was the case. Mutations had their downfalls but Magneto had taught him to embrace it, he'd be less without it and he didn't think he could bear being less than he already was.

"Eventually I just left home and ended up here…there wasn't a whole lot to it." She looked up when a voice called her name from the opposite side of the room. Looking back he could see someone was holding up a lantern but he couldn't make out the face. Dahlia pushed herself up quickly though, apparently recognizing the voice. "Coming! I'll be right back," She said and took off towards the light.

Toad sat in silence continuing to tweak this and that and rewire the blast thing. He took the two wires he had earlier and touched them again, this time the light came on in full force and he looked up satisfied.

His memory felt fuzzy sometimes and he blamed it on Storm but he had some hope everything would come back to him. He'd feel worthless if he lost his understanding of technology, it was something he was proud of and something Magneto kept him around for. It gave him worth, no doubt, even here.

He feared that if he lost his ability to handle technology well that Magneto wouldn't want him around anymore. He'd already been abandoned once by his parents and though Magneto could be considered far from a fatherly man, he had taken him in and he was someone Toad worked hard to please.

Dahlia walked with Annalee down the hall towards her adopted children. She helped carry a clean set of blankets someone had taken to get cleaned; she didn't think it was Annalee that took them, considering she rarely ever left. Dahlia's ear twitched; at least the children were starting to look better now. Leech was even well enough to leave back to his own part of the tunnels.

Annalee was quiet the whole time except for when she had asked Dahlia to help her carry everything so they wouldn't get re-dirtied by the floors. Dahlia thought about asking her if she was alright but thought it might be better so leave her be, she'd been staying up every night with her children.

Betsy looked up as they approached and smiled. "Ah good, clean sheets will be good for them." Betsy took the load out of Dahlia's arms and nodded down the hall. "Where's Toad?" She asked. Over the week Toad had eventually told her to call him that instead of Mortimer.

"Fixing the lights,"

Betsy cast Dahlia a scolding look. "Why are you leaving him alone? Callisto would have your head if she found out." She jerked her head back towards where Dahlia had come from. "Go on, get back to him."

Dahlia turned and hurried quickly back to where she'd left Toad. Callisto had been incredibly kind to let her into the group and she didn't want to ruin her or Toad's chances of staying there.

Dahlia looked around the subway room, delighted to see he'd gotten the lights back on. She walked into the empty room with worry, hoping Toad hadn't run off since it would be her that would take the punishment for it.

"Hgn…Mortimer?" She asked cautiously, refusing to call him 'Toad.' She looked past the broken door to the men's bathroom, ears standing in attention to any sounds. Inside she could hear someone moving. Her heart rapidly as her eyes scanned the seemingly empty room. "Hello…?"

She could faintly hear someone talking under their breath. She stepped into the room cautiously. Parting her lips she breathed in, trying to make out the scent but all she could pick up was the smell of musky, molding walls and old water.

Slowly, a man stepped out from behind a stall door, his eyes were wild and he looked confused.

"Are you okay…?" She asked, curling her tail around her leg. She recognized the man as being a mutant they had invited into their community months ago but he had never made any real attempt to befriend any of them, keeping to himself most of the time except for when he needed something.

He staggered closer to her. "C-can you come w-with m-me?" He asked and Dahlia took a step back with her ears turned sideways. "W-we can be safe. I can- I can protect you." He pleaded.

"I'm sorry, I must…I need to go." She turned quickly but before she could make it out of the bathroom the man grabbed her arm and started backing her into the wall all the while pleading with her.

"No! Let me go!" Dahlia screamed. Claws slid out of her finger tips and she went to swipe him across the face but he caught her other arm and held her with an unreal grip.

Toad was just walking up to Betsy and Annalee when they heard Dahlia's scream echo through the tunnels. They both darted towards the tunnel that led to the abandoned subway station. The man pressed Dahlia up to the wall and started talking in her ear. He moved both her wrists to one hand and tugged on her pants before sliding his hand under her shirt. Dahlia struggled against him but was weak with fear.

Toad was the first one through the bathroom doors. His tongue wrapped around the man's neck and yanked him back towards him to punch the living hell out of him. Betsy and Annalee were by Dahlia's side instantly. Annalee wrapped her arms around the distraught Dahlia and stroked her hair using her emphatic powers to calm her down, cooing to her all the while.

The man struggled to get away from Toad who crouched over him with blood covering his fist. He finally got up only to kick the man in the side with a sickening crack of ribs. Toad only let him up long enough to kick him back down. Betsy and Annalee guided Dahlia away from the fight where Annalee could feel it distressing her even more.

Toad turned to pick up a pipe lying on the floor, dead set on making this man pay for whatever he was trying to do to her. The man used the moment of freedom to push himself up and start to run away. Toad shook his head.

"Oh no you don't." He said under his breath. He wrapped his tongue around the man's neck again and yanked him back. Toad stood over him and looked him in his bloody, bruised face. He twirled the pile in his hand and smiled cockily at the man.

"Goin' somewhere, mate?" He spit a thick slime at the man's face, hoping to suffocate him if he didn't beat him to death. Ape came running into the room ready to drag the man out.

By time Toad made his way back towards Dahlia the others had crowded around her and he had to push his way through to get to her. Annalee was nowhere to be found and Toad could see the crowd was putting her in a daze.

"Alright!" Betsy barked the words, "Scatter! All of you! Except you!" She jabbed her finger at Toad before he could leave with the others. "Take her back to her room; I have to check Artie." Off in the back of the room Artie was half choking, half throwing up into a bucket and he spotted Annalee. Artie had several asthma attacks within the last week and Betsy had only managed to get a hold of one half-used inhaler.

Toad crouched down in front of Dahlia who had her face hidden in her knees, her hands held her head. She took deep breaths in a vain attempt to keep from shaking.

"Hey," He said quietly, "Come on,"

Dahlia only buried her face in farther and she shook her head. She looked up with red eyes wet from fresh tears.

"No," She said and took a shuddered breath trying to keep back tears. Toad looked down at her shirt; it had been partially ripped down the front. He pulled his jacket off and helped her into it. He asked again to come with him but when she refused he just scooped her up over his shoulder and started taking her there anyway. The others watched them go with concern for Dahlia.

As he walked back towards the subway station he'd let Dahlia slide from his shoulder into his arms bridal style. She clung to his neck tightly and buried her face there even after he'd set her down. He couldn't fathom what had honestly caused her to touch him so willingly like she was, he contributed it to the shock. She'd probably hate herself for it later he thought. He wished he had been there to see that man to his death but Ape had taken over the situation.

'Little bastard…should 'ave made sure he suffocated, have a nice painful death he should.' Toad thought angrily as he set Dahlia down in her bed though she didn't let go of his neck at first. Jinx came in from behind the other curtain and eyed the two with what almost looked like concern.

"What's her problem?" Jinx sneered, fixing one of her earrings in preparation for going out that night, where ever she went.

"She was attacked and if y'goin' to be a little shit get out of 'ere." Toad snapped and jerked his head towards the exit, furious at her attitude. Dahlia clutched to his shirt, wide eyes worrying for Jinx's feelings.

Jinx widened her eyes in mock exaggeration and she brushed Toad off. "Sorry I asked, gosh." She grabbed her purse and walked out.

Toad took a seat beside her on her bed and watched her bury her face in her knees again. He hesitantly reached out and stroked her hair, hoping she would find more comfort from it than she did disgust. She leaned into him much to his shock, having expected her to jerk away. The fuck was wrong with this girl? He pulled his hand back slowly, not the slightest bit sure how to comfort her or anyone for that matter. Magneto sure as hell never offered any comfort to him.

"Y'okay, love?"

"What's the point of this mutation if I can't even protect myself with it."

Toad felt lost at the desperation in her voice.

"He caught you off, is all." He tried to convince her, but there was no real way around the fact that she wasn't the most physically skilled person there was. Growing up outside the orphanage at such a young age he had been lucky to pick up on the skills necessary to fight, as well as the mutation he had of his own. Hell, even living in the orphanage he'd learned a thing or two defending himself from those little bastard. He tried to place himself in her shoes where she'd recently come into a world very different from her own but found he couldn't really do it. He just felt pity for her.

Dahlia didn't reply. She felt helplessly weak. It was always like this, other people were always saving her. When would she be able to save herself? All her mutation had ever been to her was a curse, locking her in a dangerous world with nothing to protect herself with.

Toad looked away and shifted uncomfortably, he figured if she wanted to talk she would. Dahlia took comfort in the fact he was there at all, he'd saved her and in return it'd made her feel like he'd protect her. she wished she could escape this place but she never regretted meeting the people here. A long time ago she had hated mutants just as much as most of the population, she had feared them, but now she understood to be kind. Tears started to well up in her eyes again; she understood that everyone deserved a chance.


	4. Chapter 4

Toad had been about to doze off when he heard the curtain to his room be pushed side. He sat up in bed quickly, ready for whoever was there. Last he had looked at the clock it had been around midnight or so, he figured it at least had to have been one or two by now. He never fell asleep easily, memories always plaguing him.

"Who's there?" He asked, unable to make out the dark figure. He reached over to click on the mini lantern they'd given him just as Dahlia quickly plopped herself down in his bed of blankets.

He stared at her; he couldn't believe his eyes, what in the name of all things sane was she doing here? In his bed, in the middle of the night, a creep like him? Dahlia sat staring straight ahead with her knees brought up to her chest, he could her shaking slightly. She turned her head to look at him and parted her mouth to speak but stopped. Upon closer look he could see her pupils were so dilated they almost took up her whole iris.

"Bloody hells wrong with you?"

Dahlia went to speak again but her eyes darted back to the curtains, ears alert and listening to something he couldn't hear. He wanted in anticipation, she was starting to make him nervous. She calmed down after a few moments though he thought she still looked spooked with her wide eyes. She scooted back closer to him and listened again.

" 'Ey," He reached his hand up slowly to grab her shoulder to get her attention. In surprisingly quick reflects she'd caught his wrist with claws lined against the length of his wrist, pupils narrowed into dangerous slits. He tensed up, ready to fight if he had to but watched her carefully as her eyes trailed slowly from his wrist up to his eyes in shock.

"S-sorry you startled me," She let him go quickly, the rising challenge in his eyes scaring her, pupils shrinking then dilating again as she turned her head back to listen.

"Really? Couldn't tell,"

"…I thought I heard something…" She said quietly, ignoring his sarcasm. "And Jinx wasn't there so…" She looked down at her toes, once again barefooted. She wore a tank top in place of her torn shirt and gym shorts. Toad wondered how she wasn't freezing like that. The tunnels may have been warmer than above ground, but they certainly weren't warm. He rubbed his wrist, glaring slightly. He was starting to wonder how helpless she really was; she could have had him bleeding out just now if she had really wanted.

"...Want me to...go 'ave look?" He asked carefully, wishing she would calm down but then the thought hit him that if she calmed down she might leave. His stomach sunk much to his displeasure, he didn't want that.

"No, don't go!" Dahlia said quickly looking at him urgently. He cursed the swell of pride he felt; she needed him to stay to feel safe just now. He shouldn't of felt so pleased with the fact but having a scared, young woman run to HIS room in the dead of night, well that was something.

He wondered what she would do now, how long did she plan on just sitting there? He reached up and messed with his earring. She had been scared, and she came to him. Not Betsy, not Annalee, not Ape, him. His lips began to pull back in a smile that he quickly wiped off his face before he could think he was anything special. He was right down the train from her; it was only bloody natural she went to him.

She shifted uncomfortably then, oddly, began to lean over till she fell over, head hitting the pillow. She stared at him with her wide, scared pupils and ears turned sideways. He stared back in silence for a few moments; blimey she was weird. She honestly did look like a terrified feline. After a few more moments passed he began to get the feeling she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and THEN what she said next shocked him farther:

"Can I sleep here?" She asked quietly, still holding onto her knees.

Who would want to 'go to bed' with 'him?' He was scary, creepy; he might murder her in her sleep for all she knew. He should scare her, like he did other people, it was what he did. Magneto didn't hire him for his damn knowledge alone; he was dark and intimidating, not afraid to kill. She was too pretty, too normal not to cringe at his touch or glowering, grave looks. Too kind, too soft for his hard words not to push her away. The thoughts fought in his mind and wrapped around him; they should have warmed him, but he denied himself the emotion before it could be ripped away from him.

"…Al'ight, love." He finally said, breaking out of his brooding thoughts. He noticed the goose bumps forming on her pale, exposed skin and pulled the blanket up over her. He hesitated farther looking down at her for a bit, her empty half-closed gaze turned away from him.

He played with the idea of what it would feel like to tangle his fingers in her hair, pull her close to him, get her on her back and please her like the porn he'd (never admit that he) watched; how easy it would be to just ravish her right there, to feel her skin and lips against his. But as he watched her eyes start to close he reached over to the lantern and turned it off, turning his back to her and scooted over to give her enough distance from him that she wouldn't be disturbed by his unwanted closeness.

Though when he awoke again a few hours later he was amazed to feel her back pressed against his and the slow rise and fall of her breathing against him. Her shivering had stopped and he found himself reluctant to move in case it drove her away. It was rare anyone ever willingly got so close him much less press their whole bloody back against him, or slept with him for that matter.

He closed his eyes and took in the moment. A sense of calm rushed over him as he listened to her slow melodic breathing amplified by the silence. Her body moved against him as she stirred, turning her face and body towards him. He felt her fist gently push against his shoulder and her breath brush the back of his neck. Her fingers stretched out slowly, claws sheathed, she pulled her finger tips back over his bare skin into a loose fist like a cat kneading a blanket, coaxing him to sleep. In his last thoughts he found himself wondering if this is what it felt like to have someone.

* * *

Toad woke to find himself alone and he briefly wondered if he'd been dreaming. He tried to get an idea of how long he'd been sleeping but he hadn't been as lucky as Dahlia to have a clock where he slept.

He hesitated before he got out of bed to pull his shirt on; he hadn't the slightest idea of how he was going to face Dahlia. Would things be awkward? He had to remind himself she wasn't telepathic, she couldn't read the dirty things he thought about her (Or dreamt about her, for that matter.) What if he snored? He snorted; he couldn't believe that was one of the worries that hit him, that should be the least of his concerns. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, she only slept with him.

'Only slept with me,' He thought with a snort. 'You make that sound too simple, mate.'

He pushed the curtain back and headed where they kept all the food. It was a smaller room than most he had been in but he came to accept this as the 'kitchen' so to speak. Boxes of food lined one side of the wall but as long as he'd been there, there hadn't really been much in them. Dahlia was sorting through them with Betsy cutting open a can of green beans with her scaly, clawed hand.

They were just talking about Dahlia going out again to try to stock up on food. Betsy didn't want Dahlia to bring any unneeded attention to herself but she wanted Dahlia to steal if she needed. Dahlia made the comment that Annalee looked normal enough that she should go out sometime too but Betsy only scolded her, Annalee was too scared to do such a thing lately.

Dahlia didn't reply, falling silent when he entered the room. He could tell from the direction her ears pointed she her attention was pointed to him even though she hadn't looked up from sorting through the box. It made him uneasy, like he'd done something wrong and she didn't want to speak to him now.

"Toad,"

He flinched and his attention snapped to Betsy.

"How is your recovery?"

"Feelin' like new." He said plainly, his voice sounded strange to him. He walked over to the table Betsy stood at and took a seat on one of the nearly broken chairs. He looked away from the can of food feeling like it wasn't his place to eat their supplies but Betsy set the can down and pushed it to him anyway.

"Eat," She commanded.

He eyed her for a moment and she eyed him back as if daring him to question her, only breaking the contact when she turned to get another can. He tilted his head back and let the contents pour into his mouth. The silence of the room, mainly the silence of Dahlia, weighed on him heavily. She still hadn't spoken to him, he couldn't recall a time she had never  _not_  told him good morning.

Betsy glanced between the two suspiciously trying to figure out why the air felt so awkward. No matter, she would fix it.

"Toad, why don't you go out with Dahlia today and help her bring back some supplies? Considering your recovery is going so well."

Dahlia's ears pricked up at that and she turned a perplexed look at Betsy. Toad felt like he was giving her the same expression.

"He can leave?"

"I can leave?" He echoed.

"As long as you come back," Betsy said, stabbing some green beans with a clawed finger. "You still owe us, remember that." She turned to leave and he could have sworn he saw a smile on her face. Betsy figured after the events of yesterday, well, he was someone they could trust. Now he just owed them.

He looked to Dahlia who looked to him for the first time; whatever she'd been feeling to keep her distance was now replaced with a smile much to his relief. She was excited to take him out with her, to show him all the places she went as much as she was relieved she wouldn't have to go alone. Ape had never told her if he killed the man or what had happened simply because she hadn't seen him but for once since the other day. Not only that, what made her happiest was that they weren't going to try to kill him.

* * *

"Lift me higher," Dahlia said, trying to reach a bag of potatoes at the bottom of a stores dumpster. Toad held her up, zoned out slightly thinking about how easy it would be to just leave and not come back despite what Betsy said about him owing them. He couldn't seem to bring himself to leave though. Looking the other way he lifted her too high and she fell in with a thud. He snorted in an attempt to stifle his laughter but failed miserably.

"Watch iiitttt!" She pulled herself up over the edge of the dumpster clumsily with a pout that quickly turned into a grin when she heard his laugh. She thought that had to have been one of the first times she genuinely heard him laugh since he'd gotten there; every other time had been sarcastic or cocky in some shape or form. He took her arm to help her up to the edge with a grin.

"Sorry, love. Got distracted." He didn't understand why he wasn't the one getting the potatoes, god knew all he had to do was lean in with his height, a good 5'9". Though, there was just something about watching her continuously almost fall in that entertained him.

"What did you get distracted by? Nothing interesting happens in the back of here."

"Jus' thinkin', been a while since I did this, rummagin' in dumpsters." He thought back to when he first left the orphanage, this is where it'd started: picking through trash, eventually picking pockets, then robbing convenience stores and gas stations, a few homes.

"Ah," She said, going from perching on the edge of the dumpster she let her legs down and sat. "You did so often?"

"Of course, I was'a step 'way from bein' a toadcicle with what 'ittle meat I 'ad on my bones."

"Well, it doesn't look like you lack meat on your bones now," She bobbed her head, cheerily kicking her feet. She paused with a reddening face, realizing that could be taken a flurry of many wrong ways. He tried to stifle his laughter again and reached into the dumpster to pull out the bag. It took all he had to hold himself back from picking at her.

"Thanks, love." He slung the bag over his shoulder with a cocky tone in his voice, "With some 'ope soon 'nough, y'won't be a stick figure eithe'."

"I am NOT a stick figure," She stood up on the edge of the dumpster on the balls of her feet, balancing expertly on it she walked to the other end and hopped down effortlessly. "If I gain too much weight I might not be able to do that."

"Yeh, if y'gain too much weight, might not be able to toss ye' ove' my shoulder," He said playfully looking back without much thought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dahlia followed after him with a grin, the tone in his voice sending her mind in a dirty direction.

He glanced back at her with a devious, cocky smirk before looking back to where he walked. Dahlia grinned, watching him from behind, was he flirting with her? Toad cocked his head in afterthought; did he just flirt with her?

* * *

The day went by quickly and they ended up with twice as much food as they normally did, partly because Toad had 'found' some money and she'd been able to go into a store and buy some goods. Though Dahlia was suspicious, she'd 'found' five dollars before, never fifty.

As they trudged through the thick snow in the park, headed towards home and he noticed she'd become increasingly quiet. He bumped into her, trying to get her to smile but she fell into the snow with a squeak. He laughed at her and offered her a hand to help her up, that didn't go exactly as planned. She re-positioned the bag on her back and bumped him back with a smile.

"Ass," She stuck her tongue out at him,

"I stand by my word, you're a twig." He told her, though she didn't seem to hear him. She looked up at the night sky as the snow started to fall. Toad followed her gaze up, his breath making a cloud of fog in front of him.

"I used to live around here," She thought aloud with a vague sadness in her voice that he couldn't place, he didn't know that he really cared either. Dahlia rubbed her hands together and she blew into them, her thoughts trailing over the falling snow. The night she'd left home it'd been snowing; she remembered the icy sting of cold on her skin as she ran from her apartment building, blood frozen to her fingers. "It's been a while since I've seen it snow."

She looked up quickly though with a smile, any trace of whatever sadness she felt, gone. She gave him a weak push, meaning to push him into the snow but when he didn't budge she squealed at her failure and ran away.

"You've gone mad," He shook his head watching her trip and fall into the snow again. She pushed herself out of the snow and dusted the snow from her worn, oversized coat with a smile and followed after him as they exited the park.

He thought about what she'd said though, she used to live around here? He looked around at the buildings that surrounded the park. He grimaced; she'd obviously been very well off, or at least by his standard. She'd made it sound like they couldn't afford much of anything from what she'd said before. He felt like it was just another thing that added distance between them.

* * *

Toad dropped the bag of food onto the table in the tiny room. He pulled things out, glancing up at Dahlia in silence. She bobbed her head to seemingly nothing till Leech walked in with a pair of head phones blasting music into his ears. He grabbed an apple off the table quickly and ran out.

"You 'eard that?"

"Heard what?" She looked up,

He jerked his head towards the direction Leech left. "Music,"

"Oh," she blinked, "I guess I did. I don't always notice what I hear." She said and turned her gaze back to the contents of food. She scooped some cans up in her arms and stacked them in the corner of the room. Toad watched her as she bent over, eyes trailing to her backside.

Betsy walked in and cocked an eyebrow at him. He quickly became very interested in the nutritional facts on the box of crackers Dahlia had bought.

"Enjoying yourself, Mr. Mortimer?" She asked and he struggled to find his voice. She smiled mock politely, "In the city, that is."

"It was al'ight," He said shortly when he finally managed to find his voice, he eyed her suspiciously. Judging by the way she worded that he knew what she meant.

"Glad to hear it, be careful not to enjoy yourself too much, though." She cast him a warning look and went help Dahlia with stocking.

Toad glanced back to Dahlia's figure, he flipped open a pocket knife to cut some cans of coke free from their casing. He glanced up often, jerking his hand back with a yelp of pain when he cut his finger in distraction. He stuck it in his mouth for a moment before looking at it, it bled but wasn't terribly bad. Wouldn't need stitches or nothin'.

"What happened?" Dahlia asked immediately and was taking hold of his hand before he could say anything. She furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

"It's nothin'." He said, pulling his hand back, eyeing her in confusion at her concern.

"I have some Band-Aids in my room," Dahlia grabbed his sleeve this time and pulled him out the room before he could protest.

"It's nothin', just a cut." He insisted. Dahlia pulled him past Jinx in one of the tunnels as she was counting come cash and stuffing it back into her purse. He looked back at her and they held eye contact for a moment before Dahlia pulled him into the subway room.

"Just a cut? It's bleeding!" Dahlia protested and pulled some Band-Aids and Neosporin out of a bag she had hanging off the armrest of the set of chairs her. "Sit! It might get infected."

He sat on Jinx's bed with a roll of his eyes, 'women,' he thought, but couldn't deny the pleasure he felt at having her fret over him. He'd never had a mum to fret over him, and no one had ever taken up her job. Dahlia took a seat beside him and he watched her with a soft expression as she squeezed the Neosporin onto the Band-Aid and carefully positioned it over his cut.

"Y'really didn't 'ave to," he told her. "Just'a cut."

"Oh well, I wanted to." She stuck her tongue out at him and he flicked her in the forehead with his.

"Heeyyy!" She laughed and wiped her forehead with fake disgust (okay, maybe a bit of real disgust too.)

"Told y'not to play that game wit' me, I'll win." He said with a playful grin.

She got up with stifled laugh and a hand on his shoulder. "You're so weird," She clucked her tongue at him.

The way she said it didn't make him feel insecure or self-conscious the way others had told him before. No, she'd meant it in a different way, a  _good_  way. She didn't cringe back from him like the others did and he desperately wanted to believe she could be something to him, that she didn't have some secret agenda to use him, but the thought was intrusive and he didn't think that was ever possible. A frown tried to pull the small off his face.

She stopped just as she pulled back the curtain.

"Mortimer?" She asked turning to face him.

"Yeah, what is it?" He asked, the way she said his name warmed him, she insisted on calling him by his real name instead of Toad despite his protests. "Not gonna wrap me up in band-aids now, are you?"

"No…Thank you…for last night. I was really freaked out,"

He hesitated for a moment, searching her face for a hidden meaning, her voice for sarcasm, anything to suggest she didn't mean it but he couldn't find anything. He wasn't used to this, to being thanked, he hated what it was doing to him. He hated what  _she_  was doing to him.

"Not'a probl'm, love." He smiled weakly and she smiled shyly back.

Another week went by uneventfully; the snow built up thicker and thicker in the city above ground and made it difficult to keep warm in the tunnels. The increasingly cold weather had resulted in Jinx staying home and much to Toad's dismay, Dahlia staying in her room.

The more time Jinx spent around Toad the less he liked her, she was sarcastic and rude both to strangers and people she knew. She was a lot like himself in that way, only, he hated himself so that didn't work out well in his favor. Despite her bizarre appearance she was conceited, though he'd be lying if he said she didn't have some strange sort of sexual appeal to her, he'd caught his eyes scanning over her more than once.

The weird thing is she seemed to always 'know', she would get this devious look on her face and her white eyes would meet his in contempt, she was always the first one to look away and he hated himself for it. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around what it was that drew him to her.

Dahlia had never noticed though; maybe she just didn't care, maybe she was just too dense, he didn't know either way. The others were more accepting towards him since he had saved Dahlia and in result he had started to feel at home as much as he could in the underground tunnels. He spent a lot of his time around Dahlia, attributing it to the fact that she was the one who had brought him here. It was just a given now, if you were looking for Dahlia you could find her with Toad or if you were looking for Toad you could find him with Dahlia.

He hated to admit it but once he got past her overly cheery nature, talkative tongue and occasionally annoying, childish attitude, he really enjoyed her company. He knew he didn't have the grandest personality either. He liked to believe she found him easy to talk to and viewed him as someone who would protect her, though he knew that it was probably more the case she found it easy to talk to anyone and looked to near 'bout everyone for protection. Not to mention she would probably rattle off to a wall if she felt compelled enough to speak about something.

He'd taken to fixing things around the tunnels, mainly in the abandoned subway station. He'd gotten several sockets to put out electricity by re-wiring them and leeching off the city's electricity. Every now and then his body had random aches like the ones he had originally woken up with, sometimes his muscles would even lock up or would twitch unexpectedly. It was embarrassing and sometimes he had trouble walking because of it but Dahlia was always patient with him, they all were.


	5. Chapter 5

Toad cocked his head to the side and stopped his work at the electrical box, hearing Dahlia walk up.

It was Thanksgiving day and he had the feeling that they were planning some kind of party judging from the set up he'd see in the "kitchen." Multiple bottles of beer, champagne, and wine had turned up and had been pushed into the corner of the room and most recently an old CD player. He'd seen Dahlia helping out with the alcohol much to his surprise; he didn't peg her as the type to drink.

"Plannin' somethin'?" He asked as she approached. She took a seat beside him cross-legged with a book, her tail curled around her. He tilted his head to look at her when she didn't reply right away.

"Yeah…it's just this thing we do." She smiled and looked away thoughtfully and he turned back to his work with some hesitation.

He couldn't help feel like something was wrong lately; she hadn't been her normal self. She'd been spending a good bit of time in her room engulfed in various books, most recently C.S. Lewis's 'Out of the Silent Planet.' Another thing that surprised him about her, the books he'd seen her read. He was starting to get the idea she was a lot smarter than she made herself seem.

He felt like he should ask if she was okay but his own discomfort kept him from it, instead he glanced at the book she was reading, still C.S. Lewis's book.

"It any good?" He nodded at the book.

"Hm?" She looked up from the pages.

"The book," He replied more curtly than he intended too and he cursed the habit he'd formed. He looked at her and searched her face for the usual expression she held when he was harsh towards her but the expression he found was vacant. He inhaled slowly; she was normally so readable he'd forgotten what it'd been like to have to scrutinize someone in order to figure them out.

"It's good," She smiled at him after a moment and looked down again. He couldn't help feel like the smile had been forced, it wasn't her usual smile. No, with her usual smile her eyes crinkled in the corners…the smile she gave now didn't reach her eyes.

His mind immediately jumped to everything he could have possibly done wrong. He focused on his work intently but wasn't really focusing at all, her distance driving him mad. He stopped to break the silence but started working again on second thought.

She'd always been the one leading the conversation; it was no surprise to him, talking to people never came naturally to him. He pressed his lips together; the only sound she made was the flip of her page, making him uneasy. Why was she even still sitting there if she wasn't going to speak? He felt restless, silent company was better than no company he supposed, but he really just-

"Not much use jus' sittin' there, now are you?" He bit the words off harshly.

Dahlia looked up at his harsh tone but didn't look at him. He expected her to say something, anything. He hoped she would smile, apologize, whatever the bloody hell she usually did, but he didn't expect that; he should never expect that, not with him. He glanced at her with apprehension, hoping to at least find an expression of hurt, of anything really. But instead she just stood up with her head bowed and walked away.

He hated himself; he bloody hated himself very well. She'd never forgive him now, he thought. He stopped working and stayed crouched in his usual position. He placed his elbows back on his knees and he hung his head. He squeezed the screw driver in his hand tightly and wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He wanted to run after her and make things better but what good would that do? What did it even matter? They would never be more than friends, if they were even that.

He steepled his fingers in front of his face and touched them to his nose. They were friends, right? They spent a considerable amount of time together. He cringed at the mouth he had and slammed his hand against the metal box in anger. How stupid!

* * *

Dahlia sat herself down in the pile of blankets that made up her bed. She opened her book but found herself re-reading the same passage so many times that she just up and set the book down. She rested her head on her pillow and stared at the items underneath Jinx's bed of chairs. A bottle of perfume, a tube of lipstick and mascara, an eyeliner pencil…She signed and rolled over on her back.

She regretted leaving Toad alone; maybe that really was what he wanted though. He seemed that way often, distance, cold but then there were these times where everything seemed fine, like he enjoyed her company. She found him hard to read, as much as she wanted to pretend everything was okay, she felt exhausted.

Thanksgiving was here and it was her second one away from home. She had thought she would never miss a holiday with her family though she knew in the back of the mind that even if she hadn't turned out to be a freak that was unlikely, it still disappointed her. She came from a large family and she missed them all.

Her three aunts and her uncle, blood related. She wasn't counting the people they'd married. They always came over to their house for the holidays along with their kids and her grandparents. They by no means had ever lived in a large, luxurious apartment, but it was home. It offered warm meals and showers when you wanted. Now she pulled food from dumpsters when she could and showered in a homeless shelter not far from where Scott worked, he'd actually been the one to point it to her. She was always jumpy there, the only thing truthfully separating her from the others a thin curtain.

It weighed down on her heavily this time of year, it weighed down on her all the time, the guilt that came from leaving…from hurting those around her. Her poor mother, she'd been hysterical when she tried to get her not to leave. And her father….she didn't even want to think of him. He'd never hurt her, he'd only ever tried to do what was best for her, to help her and this was how she repaid him? Leaving him with no closure, maybe she was dead, he would probably never know.

She thought about her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and cousins. Tears stung her eyes and she inhaled sharply pressing a hand to her chest, the pain engulfing her. She pushed herself up weakly, the tears starting to fall freely. She cupped her hands over her mouth and nose and tried to silence her sobs. She felt alone here, she loved Betsy, Annalee, Leech and Artie and Jinx, Callisto and Ape; they were all great friends, but she mostly felt alone.

Toad wasn't much different from the others either, but she could admit she felt closer to him than the others though she couldn't really place why that was. He wasn't the perfect man of her dreams, but he didn't have to be. He was snarky and sarcastic sometimes (Well, most of the time actually.) but he listened and always seemed to have time for her. She couldn't say the same for the others, she knew Betsy looked after her like a mother but she was always busy.

They were like a family to her, but they weren't family. They knew her, but they didn't 'know' her. Most would never understand the life she came from or how she hurt, but they understood the pain she felt because they all felt pain. She didn't just miss her family, she missed her life but she tried to be strong. Sometimes she came off as too happy and stupid, it was obvious what people thought of her most the time but she didn't know much of how else to act.

Her life had been easy till her 'curse' showed up. She'd been on her way to college, she was a straight-A honors student and she took all the AP classes she could. She'd been popular too, she always strived off people. She had been class president since her sophomore year. She was geared for success but now she could be nothing. She would live as nothing and die as nothing.

The only real thing she hoped for now was that she could make people happy but she wondered at what cost. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and stood up weak kneed. She would pull on the sweats that kept her warmest and a shirt underneath her sweater. She searched for her fingerless gloves but realized with tears that Jinx must have taken it for the day.

Even if she couldn't be there, she hoped if a window was open she might be able to watch from a neighboring building…At least then she could see them and know they were alright.

* * *

Scott stood outside of the organic food store sweeping the snow from the sidewalk as six PM swung around when he noticed the familiar head of Dahlia approaching. She kept her head down trying to shield her face from the wind and arms crossed tightly in front of her chest.

"Dahlia," He raised his hand with a smile as she approached though when she looked up his smile faded. Her eyes were red, matching her red nose cold from the snow and chapped lips. "Dahlia?"

"Scott, hi." She gave him a weak smile and glanced away from him when she spoke. "Happy thanksgiving."

"Yeah, you too." He scratched the back of his head, "You…doin' all right?"

Dahlia willed her eyes not to fill with tears. "Yeah, the cold weather just bites."

"Tell me about it," He nodded his head though he didn't that was it. She looked cold; she didn't even have a jacket in this cold weather. "Hey, give me a moment, okay?"

"Okay," She smiled again weakly and turned her gaze off down the street, a violent shake traveling through her body.

Scott came back with his jacket and held it out to her.

"Here, take it."

She shook her head with her polite smile.

"I really couldn't,"

"Come on, you're colder than I am." He smiled at her, trying to use some of that charm Jean always told him he had.

Dahlia hesitantly reached out and took the jacket, slipping it on over her sweater. It wasn't much but it was enough.

"I'll bring it back eventually,"

"Keep it," He shook his head, "Looks better on you anyway."

"Thank you," Dahlia giggled quietly and sniffed.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"Well, I'll be going…" She started to walk.

"..Wait," He said after a pause and she looked back. "Do you have anywhere to go tonight?" He swallowed hard, Professor X really wouldn't appreciate him taking her home with him if she turned out not to be a mutant.

She looked at him for a long moment before she spoke.

"I do, actually." She said hesitantly and he leaned on his broom slightly, feeling somewhat disappointed.

"Alright then," He smiled briefly, "Well…what about tomorrow?"

She tilted her head, what about tomorrow?

"Breakfast," He stumbled for the right words when she didn't reply. "You know, tomorrow, you and me?"

A light bulb went off in her head and her mouth fell open. 'But, I'm gross.' She thought.

She slapped her hands over her mouth when she realized her mouth had echoed her thoughts.

Scott smiled a bit awkwardly, not sure how to respond to that, there was really no way around it. Her hair was becoming dirty again since she hadn't showered for a few days and her face was streaked with dirt. He just wanted to make sure she would get a decent meal for once instead of digging around in dumpsters.

"You're not," He said carefully and she felt her ear twitch from under the wide headband she wore. She reached hand up to touch her ear, making sure it was still hidden.

"You're a bad liar," A smile pulled at the corner of her lip, remembering when Toad told her the same thing.

Scott's lips pulled back into a shamefaced smile. "Nothing a shower couldn't fix," His mind searched quickly for what to say that might get her to consider him. He hoped the food would be enough.

"Come on, let me treat you. Waffle House down the street from here, nine AM?"

"…Sure," Dahlia tied to keep her shy grin from spreading onto her face but she couldn't. It felt good to know someone still found her attractive despite being a dirty, homeless mess.

Scott grinned, seeing her face light up. "Alright then,"

"Alright," She hesitated to leave, giving him a small wave. "See you,"

"See you," He returned her wave and she turned to leave.

Was that a date? She shook her head, no, he probably just felt sorry for her.

* * *

Toad walked the streets aimlessly searching for Dahlia, his hood pulled well over his head trying to keep his appearance hidden. Being out in the open like this made him uncomfortable. He figured from the events six months ago he was probably a wanted criminal now. He blew into his hands trying to warm them and cursed the cold weather. He had gone looking for Dahlia in her room but Jinx had told him she'd left hours ago. When he'd asked her where she went she'd been about as much help as a chocolate teapot, only telling him she looked upset.

He cursed himself now with hands buried deep into the pockets of his jacket. Not only did she probably hate him now, she was probably freezing her arse off out here, she'd always used his jacket when she'd gone out. A frown tugged at the corner of his lip. He didn't even know why he was bothering himself looking for her, she shouldn't matter to him at all at this point and he knew she was probably just like everyone else just waiting to get away from grumpy, warty Morty.

He growled in frustration, where could she possible go? The city was huge and the places she could have gone endless. He walked past the organic food store she'd told him was her favorite place to rummage, but the lights to the shop were off and she wasn't anywhere around. It was nearing seven and he felt his heart throb in fear that maybe something had happened to her.

He'd gone to the homeless shelter she took showers at, the library where she got her books, the grocery store they'd bought groceries at and even walked past the house of the old woman that she'd said always smiled at her. His lip pulled back grimly as he realized just how much he listened to her talk, he had liked to believe he let it go in one ear and out the other she talked so much.

He took a shuddering breath from the cold and headed towards the last place he knew to look, the park and streets around it. He hunched his shoulders as he passed a woman. She looked at him with caution and was careful to put extra space between them as she passed. Blimey, she might even be back in the tunnels by now for all he knew. He wasn't even quite sure what he would do once he found her.

* * *

Scott entered the mansion forever thankful of the warm roof he had over his head. Jean walked in and greeted him with a kiss.

"Hi Scott, dinners almost ready." She said watching him rub his arms. "Where's your jacket?"

"I uh…" Would it be a good idea to tell her he'd given it to Dahlia? Damn, she could read minds. He'd better tell her in case she found out. "Gave it to Dahlia,"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Dahlia?"

"Yeah uh, the girl I was telling you about."

"Oh," She smiled and patted his shoulder, "okay. We'll have to get you a new one then."

Scott walked into the living room where Logan sat back with his feet kicked up on the coffee table.

"Logan," he nodded. Logan only grunted a reply still not entirely fond of the man. Scott hesitated in the door way before turning and walking out, not in the mood to deal with him today, he had bigger things to deal with.

He knocked on the door to the professor's doors, shifting his feet uncomfortable. He pulled the door open when professor said to come in. Rogue and Bobby walked past him as he walked in, he looked after the couple wondering what Professor X was talking to them about but he pushed it out of his mind. He would find out what the professor thought he should do about Dahlia.

He had next to no doubt in his mind she was a mutant. The way her eyes flashed when they caught the light, the way he'd never seen her walk any other way than on the balls of her feet, the way her ears moved oddly from under her fabric headband. They had more than enough resources and room at the institute to have her there, shouldn't they help her if they were able?

* * *

Dahlia sat on the edge of an empty apartment balcony across from a narrow one way street, looking down into the open window in front of her. The only thing really visibly was the living room, her grandpa fast asleep in her dad's recliner. She could barely see into the dining room where her family gathered around for dinner, the two youngest of her cousins chased each other around and dove under the table earning a scolding from her youngest aunt.

She sighed longingly, thankful to be away from the celebration going back on in the tunnels and not have to fake a good time but at the same time pained that she was alone. She glanced down at her bare feet and briefly considered putting her shoes on before she decided she didn't care enough. Beside her laid her sneakers with the shoelaces tied together. She'd hung them around her neck while she climbed the balcony, it was near impossible to scale the wall without using all sets of claws.

"You are not bloody easy to find,"

She near about fell off the balcony at the sound of Toad's accent. Jumping up into a crouch on the cement rail, she looked behind her to find him clinging to the wall with nothing but his hands. He released himself and jumped onto the balcony with her.

"Mortimer, hi." She said a bit surprised, she sat on the balcony again and let her legs dangle off. Toad jumped up onto the stone railing beside her and crouched beside her. Eventually he took a seat like her, figuring he didn't need to put any more difference between them than what already was.

They sat in silence for a few moments that neither of them knew how to break. Dahlia felt awkward and vulnerable, not that she'd never been vulnerable with him before, just not in this way. She swung her feet back and forth out of nervous habit.

Toad scanned the scene in front of him; multiple people had their windows open tonight but only one family seemed was really there and directly in front of them. He looked from the window to the bleak expression she held on her face and felt content to just sit with her in the silence he wished he had accepted from her early. She did eventually speak, though.

"I was going to go to Dartmouth," She started, "I had a full scholarship for engineering and everything,"

He stayed silent and watched her. His interest piqued and pleasantly surprised, almost excited, to hear she were into engineering. He'd have to ask her about that later. It was starting to make sense why she'd wanted to learn how he was fixing the electrical box.

"Everyone was so proud of me, you know? So happy; I was going to be the first one to go to college in my family. Mom bought me a whole new wardrobe and everything," She brought her knees up to her chest and Toad noticed with annoyance she was barefooted in the bloody cold again. How she hadn't gotten sick yet was beyond him.

"Then, this happened," She held out her hand and watched as claws slowly slipped out of her fingertips. She winced in pain as if it hurt her. She sheathed them and turned her attention back to the window. Inside the warm apartment what he presumed to be her mother walked into view in the living room; she picked up one of the many picture frames set on a table against the wall and stared at it affectionately. She had the same blond hair and pale skin as Dahlia did. "I must of really let everyone down." She said dejectedly.

"Ah, can't blame yourself, " Toad broke his silence and she looked at him with tired eyes. "S' not your fault, love."

She turned her gaze back to the window, her dad came limping with a cane into view to put an arm around her mother. Upon a closer look Toad saw he wore an eye patch.

"Thank you," She said quietly, "The cane is new." She nodded towards the window; taking in her dad's aging appearance struck a chord in her. She knew they wouldn't be young forever. "They'd only been trying to help me, when my mutation showed up, but just…" She shook her head. "They wanted to send me to this…group." She looked at Toad suddenly and he looked back to her with a slight tilt to his head.

"It was a religious group; they thought maybe God would heal me. I couldn't find anything about it online though, they wouldn't even tell me where they heard of it." She paused for a good while leaving Toad to wrestle with rather or not he should talk. "It's a curse," her lips and voice quivered and he mentally begged her not to start crying.

"Don't be like that love," he rubbed his hands together and looked over the jacket she had. The bloody hell she get 'that' from? He reached over and brushed his thumb against her cheek. "Might like y'less if y'weren't such'a kitten."

A smile crawled onto her face slowly, at least she was reassured he didn't hate her as much as it seemed sometimes. She scooted closer to him and leaned her head onto his shoulder. He tensed up as she breathed out slowly, not sure how to respond. He hesitantly put an arm around her shoulder, feeling some what proud of himself for fixing the situation at hand. She moved slightly and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a squeeze.

She was hugging him, she was actually hugging him. He cocked his head a bit, pleasure welling up in his chest and putting a smile on his face. He couldn't believe his luck. She snuggled her face into his chest and he carefully stroked her hair as if he were afraid she would break.

"It's my fault," She started then hesitated to go on. "The eye patch that is…" She said sleepily, not having slept well the last couple nights.

"The night I left…we'd been arguing, it was before I knew I had five potentially deadly weapons on my hand, but I still shouldn't of done it. He lost his eye because of me. I slapped him. Then my poor mom, after she called the ambulance she caught me trying to climb out the window all hysterical and everything. When she tried to grab me I fell," She pointed at a spot on the snow-covered cement just a window over. He found himself wondering how she didn't die from the impact, he knew he'd fallen from more than his fair share of heights though and contributed it to her mutation. "I ran before she could get down stairs."

"They probably think I'm dead, I don't know how I'm not, " She mused, "I really wish I could let them know I was okay."

"Could leave 'em a note, or somethin' " He suggested quietly, unsure of himself and rested his chin on her head. He didn't think there could be a better feeling than how he felt now, resting his chin on her head. It made him feel like her protector, like she needed him, like it was his job to take care of her. His lips burned to brush against her skin, even if only for a second.

"I thought about it," She breathed in deeply, feeling safe with him, comforted. "I might do that one day…" She trailed off and they didn't talk for a while, content to just watch her family eating dinner and her parents look at the pictures on the table. He wondered if she was looking at old pictures of Dahlia or not, he couldn't think of why else she'd look at somethin' like that.

He would have been contented to stay there all night, but the clouds were starting to snow again and he felt Dahlia start to doze off, her breathing turning into the slow melodic breaths from when she'd slept with him.

"Pet," He tapped her shoulder lightly, trying to get a better look at her face. "S'time t'go."

He felt her jerk awake then cuddled closer against his chest and hugging him tighter. He still couldn't believe she was so close; maybe he wouldn't die a virgin after all. A smile tugged at his lip, he had some hope.

She seemed to trust him so much, he wasn't used to it. He felt pleased to take the role though, to protect and be needed. The feeling comforted him; he knew he wasn't an easy person to get along with. He was rude and awkward at times, okay well most of the time, not knowing how to respond and she didn't know a cent about him. She let him close to her though. She treated him like he was normal, not like he was just some pawn like Magneto and the other had done, always leaving him at the bottom of the food chain.

"Mortimer?" She asked, turning to press her face into his chest.

"Ye, kitten?"  _That'd be a pleasant pet name._ He thought.

"Thank you for being there for me, I feel a lot better. You're a really great friend."

He felt like she'd stabbed him with the icicles below them. Of bloody course, just his luck. He gave a slow, pissed shake of his head and mouthed a curse word. It took everything he had to keep the bitterness out of his reply.

"Of course love," He bit his cheek. Hard. "What're friends for?"

He took a deep breath; he would probably die a virgin.

* * *

The rest of the night felt like a blur. He thought back to everything that had happened. The party had been going on when they'd gotten back around ten. The music was playing loudly and drinks were passed around carelessly, though the younger mutants weren't anywhere around.

Dahlia had been so excited, she'd tried to get him to dance with her but he'd settled crouched against one of the walls with a beer in his hand and watched her have fun. He'd never been one to get into parties, the crowds made him uncomfortable even with them all being mutants.

He watched humorously as she bumped and grinded against Jinx after a drink too many. His eyes trailed over her body hungrily. She'd ditched the oversized clothed for what she normally slept in, a pair of black yoga pants and one of her white t-shirts. Bare-footed again, of course; he was starting to think there was nothing that could keep her from taking her shoes off.

She danced up to him and tried to get him off the wall but he'd just shook his head.

"I stand by my word, you're crazy."

"Come ooonnn," She chimed, pulling him to his feet and danced around him singing loudly along with the music. Cor, she was a terrible singer. He'd eventually just given up and swayed against her while she grinded against him.

He was really starting to enjoy himself, he didn't feel so out of place here, not with her. He'd caught Betsy's watchful eye though and stepped back sheepishly. He didn't care how old Betsy was, she could be a scary motherfucker when she wanted to be.

Dahlia turned around and tossed her arms around his neck in a fit of giggles. "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas echoed against the walls of the tunnel room from the battery powered stereo that played Leech's iPod.

"I want to show you something," Dahlia hiccupped, tapping a finger to his nose. He raised an eyebrow and pulled his face back from the stench of alcohol. He fixed the tight shirt that had started to creep up her waist.

"Yeah, alright." He took her hips and steadied her on her feet. "I think you've shown me quite enough for today, don't you?" His lips pulled back into a smile at her uncontrolled giggles.

"N-no. No." She giggled, taking a drink. "I want to show you something!" She let go of him and almost fell backwards if he hadn't of caught her arm and pulled her back with an arm around her waist. She giggled harder letting her head roll back.

"C-come oonnnnn!" She took hold of his arm and started pulling him towards the food room, almost tripping over herself the whole way. Once they were alone she had walked clumsily over to the bottles of wine in the corner and stuffed one under her arm.

"Don't you think you've had a bit too much, love?" He asked with a smirk.

"No! No, no sir." She said with a poorly done British accent and giggles and started pulling him towards his room.

"You've got a god awful accent," He grabbed another beer while he was in the room after he'd downed the rest of his. It was warm, but warm beer was better than no beer.

The music behind them grew fainter and fainter till it was no more than quiet background noise. She fell onto his bed in a fit of laughter. He took a seat on the subway chairs above his bed and leaned forward with elbows on his knees.

"Somethin' to show me?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Dahlia had run out of breath in her giggles. She clutched her stomach and took a deep breath before calming down to look at him with a grin.

"I forgot," She said with a stifled giggle.

"Of course you did," He laughed quietly, taking a drink. "You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Dahlia's arms fell back by her head and she pursed her lips together to glower at him. She pointed a finger at him dramatically. "You're drunk."

He shook his head with his smile that gave Dahlia butterflies—Or maybe that was the alcohol, she couldn't tell.

"You're stubborn." He said.

"You're stubborn!"

"No," He said simply, taking another drink and holding up a finger. "I'm tipsy, you're drunk." He gave her a mock serious look.

She grinned back at him. "So, you are drunk."

"Tipsy, kitten."

"Oh posh," She stuck her tongue at him.

"Posh means high-class, love." He corrected her and chuckled at the nasty look she gave him.

"Hey, hey, hey," She sat up and patted the spot beside her.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded her head with wide eyes. He squinted at her oddly, not 100% what her hammered brain was trying to tell him.

"Sit with meee!" She whined.

"Well, speak ye bloody mind, I'm not psychic." He pushed himself up and drank the rest of the beer to let the bottle fall to the floor before he sat where she beckoned.

"Good thing I'm not," She just grinned at him and bit her finger.

"What's that s'posed to mean?" He gave her a look, trying to get the wine bottle open though he seriously doubted that was the last thing either of them needed right now.

"Nothing," She just grinned back. She gave a big yawn and he could tell her drunk high was starting to wear off. She honestly looked adorable when she was sleepy. "Mortimer?" She asked.

"Hm?" He took a swing of the wine, hoping she would still be too drunk to care they were sharing a bottle.

"Tell me about yourself?"

He just looked down at her with his elbows on his knees, waiting for her to say something else.

"I mean," She looked up at him with those sleepy eyes he was really starting to love. "I told you a bit about myself today, and we aren't keeping you here anymore. I want to know…" She fiddled with the worn edge of his blanket. "What was your childhood like?"

He probably would have tensed up much more than he did had the alcohol not taken the edge off of everything. He fell silent wondering if it were really a good idea he told her anything about himself. For lack of better judgment he would later blame on anything other than himself, a smile twitched the corner of his lips.

"I grew up in an orphanage in York, England." He said and she watched him with wide childish eyes, chewing on her finger. "The whole thing was real horrid. The kids were ruthless, always makin' fun of my appearance 'n what not…Staff weren't much better either, could care less when the kids scared me off from dinner. Hated me, they all did." He smiled sadly looking at his feet.

"Damn Normals, think they're so much better than us. Eventually I just figured," He looked back at her, "'Don't be the bottom of the food chain.' Yanno? Got outta there when I could, not tha' they gave it any mind, so many kids there anyway prob' better to be rid of the ugly ones at least; I wasn't goin' nowhere, no body'd want me." He tilted his head back and took a couple of gulps of wine.

"Lived on the streets for a couple years-" He hiccupped. "-And learned to use my mutation. Didn't 'ave much skill back then though," His lip pulled back grimly as he thought back to his time in England. He winced as if remembering something particularly unpleasant. "Had a real nice set up once, abandoned church in the poorer part o'town. Some otha' homeless blokes found it though, near 'bout beat me to death for it an' left me in the streets t'die."

Dahlia furrowed her eyebrows in sympathy. "That's horrible…" She said quietly.

He only shrugged, "That's life fo' us, love. No luck for the damned. A man found me though, only reas'n I didn't die I'd like to imagine," he shrugged thinking back to when Magneto had found him beaten in the snow, "took me in for a'couple years, think he's abandoned me now too though." He had a sad air to his voice as he stared ahead with sad eyes.

"Course, couldn't have expected 'em to stay not wit' this ugly ol' mug, now could I?" He looked to Dahlia with a weak smile that struck her heart. She couldn't fully wrap it around her brain what she'd been wanting to do at that moment, she knew just she had wanted him to feel better, to heal the sadness. She was always a fool to sympathy.

She had pulled herself up to him and cupping his cheek in her hand and kissed him softly. He didn't kiss her back, his mind rushing with a million different thoughts at once. Everything happened really quickly; she'd kissed him, and then had been on him. He couldn't remember when he started kissing her back, or when his hands found their way under her shirt, or when he'd taken it off or when she'd taken off his or when he'd gotten on her.

And now, he laid there with her bare body snuggled up against his, reliving all the intense emotions and thoughts of the previous night. One thing stood out to him though and made his stomach churn: fear.

The overwhelming fear that he wouldn't be good enough, that at any moment she would wake up and find in horror that she'd made some terrible, drunken mistake. He stroked a hand through her hair, staring up at the train's ceiling. He should have been happy that someone at least took some kind of pity on him and that at least he wasn't a virgin anymore but he wasn't.

If anything he didn't want her pity, he didn't want her to throw herself at him because she felt 'sorry' for him. He wanted someone to care, but then maybe she really did just have an ulterior motive, he felt frustrated trying to figure out what it could be. What could she possibly want from him to give him so much?

He'd let her in. He'd let down walls. How blind was he? Some pretty girl comes along and 'pretends' to care and he falls for it. He pushed himself up to pull on his clothes. He'd rather die than let her use him. He'd decided to leave before she did; he was tired of being abandoned.

He just didn't realize how much he'd regret it later.

* * *

 

Dahlia's eyes welled up in tears as she sat in the room Mortimer had been staying in for the last couple of weeks. After her breakfast with Scott she'd gone straight home and waited for him all day and now that the end of day two was rolling around she was starting to doubt he would even come back.

Maybe she'd come on too strong. She was always moving too quickly with people, she'd meet somebody and bam, it was like she automatically considered them her best friend; Toad had been no different. She trusted people too much and she always thought people liked her better than they did; Betsy was always telling her that. She'd flat out annoyed a mutant too much, thinking their cold nature and back-handed remarks were just part of who they were. But, as for Toad she'd honestly thought…Well, she didn't really know what she thought but she was starting to think that maybe he liked her a lot less than she thought he did. Maybe that's why he seemed so distant at times.

She trusted too much when the homeless man wanted to talk to her. She'd trusted too much when an elderly man offered her a ride, near about getting her killed. She'd trusted too much when she'd agreed to do a kid's chemistry homework for money only to come out with nothing and She'd trusted too much when a man had asked her to bring a bag to that one building that one time forever ago. And now she trusted too much a man she hardly knew. She'd 'trusted' him, she opened up to him, she 'slept' with him and now he probably wasn't ever coming back.

She had hope though, that he'd just gone out for something about would be back any day now but even 'she' knew that was naïve. Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol. Though it did have some part in her throwing herself at him she knew she couldn't have blamed it on that. She hid her face in her hands. She cared too much, about everyone. That was her problem. She cared and gave so much that she was often left with nothing. She was a freak, and even freaks didn't want her.

She hiccupped a quiet sob, thinking back to the events of the day.

She'd woken up like any other day, stretched her body and twisted around to face Mortimer with a smile on her face. She didn't care that he was green and blotchy or that his eyes were too large and strange or that he had a 13-foot-long tongue he could grab stuff with, she honestly didn't. But she'd found him gone and that maybe she'd talked too much, or moved too quickly, or that he didn't like her ears or tail or maybe she'd just plain annoyed him so bad that he up and left.

She'd still gone looking for him though; she'd looked all over the tunnels and asked everyone if they'd seen him. Jinx had only said with a sneer that she'd seen him headed towards the exit this morning and hadn't even responded to her when she said good morning, not that she really scared, the dude was a douche bag half the time to her anyway.

She'd tried to push it into the back of her mind when she'd gone to breakfast with Scott but he could tell something was bothering her. They'd ended up talking about it though she hadn't really wanted to say she 'slept' with some one last night and they'd run away. It would have made her sound god awfully pitiful, more than she already was with her tattered clothing and dirty hair.

She'd ended up just telling him when she'd woken up this morning her friend was missing, and she didn't think that he would be coming back. She's tried her hardest to make it seem like it was just part of her life that sometimes friends just find it's their time to move on. But she had the feeling that he thought it was more than that.

She'd first walked into the Waffle Hut thirty-minutes late if that wasn't bad enough, she 'hated' being late. If anything she was normally thirty minutes early to something. Scott had been glancing down at his watch with a cup of coffee in hand. Outside the snow had been falling slowly against the grey skies, building up on the sidewalks and road outside.

She'd apologized profusely and he accepted it easily, like it'd been nothing. She had been really surprised he was still there actually; she probably would have just gotten up and left. They'd made small chat is all really, she found out he lived at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children and was kind of part of the staff, though he'd gotten an extra job at the Organic food store to get out more often.

He hadn't really learned much about her though, that much she knew. She guessed he didn't want to pry into her "sensitive situation." She'd had a nice time despite the dark hole she felt looming in her stomach, he'd even suggested taking her out to dinner next time to meet his girlfriend Jean. The whole 'girlfriend' thing threw her for a loop. She'd been starting to think he was into her, but then again she always thought people liked her more than they really did.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I've learned how to format text on here properly and insert lines. XD Thank you for being patient with me.  
> ^_^ Also, thank you to the kind soul who left Kudos on my work yesterday! It made my day. :) Enjoy!

Dahlia's leg shook nervously as she sat in the big office at the Xavier Institute. She was waiting for the professor; he was supposed to be talking to her about the institute today. Scott and Jean had left her there to attend to something in the hall, maybe a  _mutant_  something. There had been a crash and what sounded like someone yelling but she tried to ignore it.

Her eyes scanned the room around her for anything to take her mind off things. The walls were decorated with various pictures, a vase or two on a table here or there, a potted plant off in the corner that looked particularly well taken care of. Her eyes fell a picture on the man's desk: A man in a wheel chair surrounded by kids. She recognized Scott and Jean beside him.

_Must be the professor…_  Dahlia thought jumping at the sound of a man's voice.

"You're quite correct," Professor wheeled up to her and shook the hand Dahlia immediately put out. "There's no need to be nervous, we're all friends here."

Dahlia's eyes darted to Jean and Scott then to the Professor.  _How did he…? Aaaah, mutant._

Dahlia tensed up, her mind immediately running to all the things she didn't want him to know. The Morlocks, Toad, her parents, and the dirty things she thought of at night. Her face flushed red and…for a split second, his smile left his face and he almost appeared…disturbed. Well, of course, that only made Dahlia blush farther and he recovered immediately.

"It's okay, Ms. Fox, I promise not to snoop around your thoughts," He smiled, seeming somewhat humored by the expression of dread she wore and gestured to the chair, "Please, have a seat."

Dahlia sat hesitantly, looking back to Jean and Scott a moment who nodded their head encouragingly before turning her attention to the professor. She resisted the urge to reach up and feel her burning cheeks.

"From what I've been told, Dahlia, if I may call you that?"

Dahlia nodded enthusiastically with pressed lips.

"You're homeless due to your mutation, am I correct?"

Dahlia parted her lips to speak; her pupils narrowed the slightest amount before returning to human.

"Well, no, not exactly." She looked down, as if thinking of what to say. How did she have his word he wasn't snooping around in her thoughts? She couldn't tell him about where she lived, Callisto would be furious, who knows what she would do to her. She didn't know who these people were aside from that they had been incredibly kind to her.

She took in the professor's kind expression and found herself returning a warm smile. Surely this was a good man? He'd even offered to help her, but still, best to follow Callisto.

"I'm living with some other…mutants. I can't tell you where though…or who."

"Is that so?" Professor asked and she wondered if he already had the answer.

Scott stepped in for Dahlia.

"The conditions are poor though, professor. There's hardly enough food and it's freezing out there."

"Well, Dahlia, Scott and Jean seem very set on helping you. I just wanted to speak with you today to meet you. You're already more than welcome to stay at the school and help out, if you'd like?" Professor raised an eyebrow. "Scott tells me you're very skilled in Physics?"

Dahlia's ears perked up from under her headband. Jean had told Dahlia she didn't have to worry about hiding here and could take it off, but she'd decided she felt more comfortable keeping it on.

"I am! Chemistry too, I took all the AP classes for them and did tutoring on the side." Dahlia's ears fell back. "Don't ask me about English though," She smiled sheepishly.

"Well then!" Professor looked to Scott and Jean, this had obviously been something they'd planned a head of time. "How would you like a job assisting me with the Physics class? There are always more than a few students who need extra help, and I do think it would be nice to take off some days."

Dahlia's eyes lit up and she turned in her chair to look at Scott and Jean before snapping back to the professor.

"Yes! Oh my god! That would be great!" Her chest swelled with excitement, all the things she could use the money for to help her group. Her expression dropped though. "Will I have to leave…my group?"

The professor paused with his kind smile and seemed to look at her very closely for a second.

"No, of course not," He finally said and Dahlia's face lit up again. She jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around the man.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She jumped up before attacking Jean and Scott with hugs too. "I never thought I'd be able to get a job!"

"Well, you have one now." Professor chuckled lightly and she whipped around the face him.

"I don't know my social security or anything." Her eyebrows knit together in a concerned look.

"Not a problem…I'm sure we can work something out," He smiled a bit mischievously and Dahlia gave a small squeal of excitement. Professor's eyes dropped down to her tattered clothing. "Jean, why don't you and Kitty take Dahlia out for some new clothes? My treat."

"That sounds great, I'll get Kitty." Jean looked like she was trying hard to keep back a grin from Dahlia's excitement. This girl was so…full of energy…and talkative.

Dahlia hurried after Jean after one last quick hug to the professor. Scott stayed behind, watching them leave the room. He looked at Xavier with his hands behind his back, waiting expectantly for what was on his mind.

"I'm concerned for her," He said simply, eyes lingering on the closed doors. He turned his gaze up to Scott. "Please, try to make her feel as at home as possible here, I'd like to see her to get off the streets as soon as possible."

"That's the plan," Scott said with a nod. He wondered what exactly the professor was worried about. Sure, the streets were a dangerous place but the way Dahlia had previously made it sound it seemed like her group looked after her very well. He hoped the job would be enough to get her back on her feet and able to help her friends if that's what she wanted.

* * *

Upon coming back from their shopping trip Dahlia sat in the passenger seat going through the clothes they'd gotten her. The essentials, some underwear and bras, T-shirts, shorts, two pairs of jeans, and a long skirt she could use for when she wanted to go out as well as a black fabric head band she could use to hide her ears. Kitty had said black would go with anything so it was definitely the obvious choice when they were picking between the other colors.

The whole trip had turned out to be around a hundred dollars and Dahlia couldn't help feeling guilty about that. She'd tried to keep the price down, it wasn't like her to be a mooch but it had been so long since she'd had normal clothing to wear. The things she had originally left home with had long since become worn and torn and well, the things she found after that weren't much better.

"I like that shirt," Kitty pointed at the one Dahlia held up. It was simple but one of the nicer shirts she'd picked up. It was sea foam green with a mild v-neck.  _Sexy, but still modest._ Dahlia had thought.

"Thank you! Me too," Dahlia smiled at Kitty before smoothing her skirt down nervously. It had been a while since she had met any new friends. Kitty looked normal over all; she wondered what her mutation was.

Jean pulled up to the mansion garage and stepped out. A gruff looking man was leaned under the hood of one of the cars. He looked up at Jean as she stepped out the car and winked at her. Jean bit back the smile that grew on her face.

"Dahlia, this is Logan."

Dahlia looked at the man and he looked back, taking in her ratty, odd choice of clothing and dirty appearance. Jean had said she could use the bathroom at the school to clean up, they'd even stopped and gotten her a couple of toiletries such as a toothbrush, a disposable razor, and thank the universe, some deodorant.

Logan cocked an eyebrow, cigar in his mouth.

"Where'd Chuck get this one?"

Dahlia felt her eyes attempt to narrow into slits at the man; they always ached slightly when they did that, as if she'd been in the dark for too long and someone suddenly turned a bright light on. Jean cast Logan a menacing look and took Dahlia by the shoulders to lead her away.

"What?" Logan took the cigar out of his mouth and held his arms out. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"Ignore him, that's Logan, he's—"

"An interesting guy." Kitty finished with a distasteful snort, rolling her eyes at the man.

Dahlia looked between the two and decided she'd better not pry into anything more about him…It would just be best to keep her distance she supposed.

Dahlia was lead up the stairs and past various students who despite having been mutants for the obvious reason of being enrolled in a mutant school, all appeared to be very normal. Well, if you didn't mention the silver man who walked past, appearing to be made of some sort of metal, showing off to some girls or the boy who leaned against the wall coolly manipulating fire in his hand.

All the new sights and faces excited her to say the least, her own high school experience having been cut short by her mutation. She was hopeful that maybe she wouldn't have to live life as she had been, but she still felt tethered to the Morlocks. They had been her family for almost two years now.

Kitty flicked on the light to what Dahlia assumed was her room, judging from the picture of her and her parents on the nightstand.

"You can like, leave your bags here if you want. I'll show you to the bathroom in a second." The girl leaned over her laptop and quickly typed in her password before checking her email.

Dahlia looked around the large room. Kitty's bed was the closest to the door, there was another bed down from hers but it appeared empty.

"Who's the other bed for?" Dahlia asked, tilting her head at the obviously occupied bed across the room. Kitty glanced up.

"Oh, that's Rogue's bed," She said a bit absent-mindedly. "She's cool; you'll probably get to meet her soon."

Dahlia set her bags on the floor and shifted uneasily on her feet. What if her friends didn't like that she was receiving help from other people? She furrowed her eyebrows. She decided she would leave her new clothes here if Kitty would let, she could always just change once she got there. She picked up her toiletries.

"Is it alright if I leave my things here when I leave tonight?" Dahlia asked, pulling her headband off.

Kitty's eyes went to her ears this having been the first time Dahlia actually revealed them.

"Uh-yeah, totally." Kitty smiled, she had no problem with physical mutations. Dahlia's were pretty cool, but it still always came as a shock to her. She wondered how many people like that there were out there that had just gotten so good at hiding it nobody ever noticed. "Okay! This way." Kitty hurried out the door and Dahlia trailed after her.

The same flame boy was still hanging out in the halls, only now he had company. His friend whispered something to him as she passed and he laughed, eyes following her. Dahlia's hands went up to her dirty face, then her ears self-consciously.

It wasn't as if her ears were obsessively large and obnoxious or in an odd place. They were actually about the same size as her normal ears had been, maybe a tiny bit larger and in the same place. They were easy to hide, she found herself thinking more than once if you subtracted the fur—which even that was short and soft, nowhere near the wild furry ears you would see on some long-haired cats—that she might even have been able to pull off an elvish look.

She ducked into the safety of the bathroom and shut the door quickly, leaving Kitty to blink dumbfounded for a couple seconds before walking back to her own room to think what a weird person Dahlia was already starting to be.

Dahlia opened the bathroom closest to make sure there were towels before she stripped off her dirty clothing. She had brought a pair of her new clothes into the bathroom, she figured she could at least wash her ratty clothes even if she had to go home in it.

The hot water felt good, it wasn't like the water in the homeless shelter which had only been a lukewarm trickle half the time. She soaped herself up and started to shave, beyond thankful for the new razor. She had one back in the tunnels that she took to the homeless shelter with her but it was old and left a razor burn on her legs that would last for days sometimes. She squeezed the shampoo into her hand eagerly and smoothed it over her hair. She breathed in the clean scent, delighted;  _Cotton Fields_ it was entitled.

She scrubbed every dirty feeling from her body, every sad and stressful thought. Mortimer passed through her mind and lingered. She found herself worrying about him, was he alright? What if something had happened to him and that's why he didn't come back? She let the water rinse the shampoo and dirt from her hair and lathered herself up with soap a second time.

_This is wonderful,_ She thought, letting the water run over her face.  _You never really know how much a simple hot shower means till you can't get it anymore._

She turned the water off and stepped out onto the plush white rug. She wondered how they managed to keep them so clean with students in and out of the bathrooms every day. She pulled a towel from the bathroom closet and rubbed at her skin till she felt it was dry and now even cleaner. She took a deep breath, her muscles relaxed.

She shifted through the closet contents. Some students had left their things in there. Tampons and pads were pushed way to the back. Some half-used bottles of toothpaste laid around lazily beside a bottle of deep blue nail polish.

She pulled the toothpaste out and started to brush her teeth. She was thankful it was so easy to brush her teeth here at the sink, with running water. They mainly had running water in the tunnels, but it was a chore to get, you had to get the faucet open with a wrench. Mostly she would just fill a buck up and bring it near her room for whoever needed it.

She grinned at the mirror, pleasantly surprised to realize the toothpaste had a whitening agent in it. It wasn't a huge difference, but it was a big enough difference to make Dahlia thrilled. She put the unknown student's toothpaste away and shifted through the other contents. She hesitated at the blue nail polish. Should she? She should. What could it hurt? She painted her nails the deep blue color feeling quite satisfied with herself.

After she dried her hair and gotten dressed she had Kitty show her to the laundry room and how to work the washer and dryer. She'd get home fairly late that night and would have to lie to Betsy about where she'd been but it was worth it.

* * *

Dahlia laid sprawled out on the living room sofa tossing popcorn back into her mouth. She'd just finished a physics session with the flame boy, who she now knew was John. He still made her as uncomfortable as ever with his bad boy exterior, only now it came with mean jokes and backhanded remarks.

Bobby and Rogue sat on the floor in front of her playing video games while Kitty sat on the floor with her back against the sofa. She reached up into the bowl on Dahlia's stomach and took a hand full.

"You can't do that!" Bobby objected at Rogue's move in the video game with a laugh. "That's totally cheating!"

"Is it not! How is it cheating if the game lets me do it?" She gave him a light shove with her gloved hands.

It had been a few weeks now since Dahlia first met Xavier. Everything was going smoothly as far as she could tell. A few people in the tunnels had noticed her frequent absences and new-found cleanliness but nobody brought it up. She always found it easy to breeze under the radar these days.

So far Kitty's words had proven true, Rogue was cool. Bobby was  _cool_ , literally. Logan, she decided, wasn't as bad as he seemed. She liked to believe that he meant well, even if he came off as an ass sometimes.

Storm, she was nice. She had her own greenhouse up on the top floor and had even taken Dahlia in to see it. John, of course, stuck to being an ass. She  _thought_  though, that maybe sometimes he could actually be kind of nice though, in a weird way. Rogue and Kitty disagreed though.

"Alright," Bobby clapped his hands together and stood up. "I gotta go pack, night guys!" He smiled at Rogue and went to brush a strand of hair from her face but she flinched back and he looked at her sadly for a moment before leaving.

The tip of Dahlia's tail twitched from side to side in thought as she pushed another handful of popcorn into her mouth. Rogue's powers sucked the life out of people, for a lack of better words. Kitty could phase through walls. John could manipulate fire, but couldn't create it like Bobby could ice. Logan was a speed healer with metal attached to all his bones, giving him claws. The professor was telepathic. Storm controlled the weather. Jean was also telepathic as well as telekinesis and Dahlia finally knew the reason Scott never took off his sunglasses was because he packed a bazooka behind each eye.

She'd yet to really meet anyone that  _looked_  very different though, aside from Beast whom she had only met briefly, but she still found herself feeling at home. She got paid at the end of every two weeks, it wasn't a lot of money, but it was money none the less.

Jean walked into the room with Storm and Dahlia sat up to give them room to sit. Rogue paused the game and looked back at the crew.

"Any of y'all wanna play?" She asked holding up the controller.

The others looked around at each other and she shrugged, turning back to the game.

"Hey," Kitty turned her head to look at Jean and Storm sitting on the sofa, "I was thinking, why don't we like, have a girl's night out or like in one day, yanno?" She took another handful of popcorn.

One of Dahlia's ears tilted back listening to some kids running down the hall, the other listening to their conversation. Storm got up to look.

"Hey! No running!" She called out just in time to see a student trip and duplicate multiple copies of himself. She sighed heavily, at least nobody was hurt.

"That sounds like a good idea," Jean looked to Storm, "What do you think, Storm? How does a girls night sound?" Storm smiled, taking a seat beside Dahlia.

"That'd be nice, we could do a girl's movie night one day over the break," She suggested and Kitty nodded along eating her popcorn.

"Can we do cool movies though? No Christmas movies; if I have to watch 'A Christmas Carol' one more time I swear I'll die." Rogue shuddered; with Christmas coming up that's all she'd been watching.

"I haven't seen any of the new movies from the last couple of years," Dahlia said, "It'd be nice, what's that one that came out recently? The Mailman? I'd like to see that."

"As long as the younger students can watch the movies I don't see why not,"

"I think it was rated PG," Dahlia mused, "I'm not sure."

"Why not spend the night, Dahlia?" Kitty asked, "The bed in our room is still free."

Dahlia hesitated, her mind trailing to Betsy. She would wonder where she was. She would have to come up with something.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," She said with a smile.

* * *

The night before Christmas Eve the girls who had stayed at the mansion for the holidays huddled together in front of the TV watching The Mailman. It was a movie about a mailman who'd inherited a haunted castle in Ireland and fell in love with one of the ghosts all the while trying to break a witches curse. Cheesy, but good.

A ghost jumped out in the movie causing a younger mutant named Siryn to give a short scream. She slapped her hands over immediately, the others covering their ears in pain at her sonic scream. She got more than a few angry looks.

"Sorry…" She said sheepishly.

"Hey, who ate all the popcorn?" Rogue asked, looking into the bowl.

"I'll get some more," Dahlia pushed herself off the floor. The clock on the wall read midnight, two hours later than the normal bedtime for the students; professor decided to make an acceptation for the holiday.

Dahlia made her way to the kitchen in the dark, her eyes able to see dimly. She pulled the pantry open and put a bag of popcorn into the microwave before bumping its contents into the bowl. Turning around to face the stove Dahlia tossed her popcorn into the air with a scream. A blue demon with very sharp teeth holding a sandwich hung upside down from the cabinets over the stove.

Logan, who had been on his way to the kitchen, came running. Dahlia gapped at the blue thing with wide eyes, her head snapping to Logan who had his claws out.

"I  _told_  you to knock that off," He growled with he saw him and sheathed his claws. The blue man disappeared in a poof of smoke and reappeared on the counter island behind him. Dahlia whipped around to face him.

"Dahlia, Kurt. Kurt, Dahlia." Logan said over his shoulder after grabbing a soda out the fridge as he walked out. "Knock your socks off."

Dahlia blinked at Kurt, clawed hands grasping the stove behind her. Kurt lifted a hand and gave her a sheepish wave and smile.

"K-Kurt?" Dahlia asked, her claws slowly sliding back into her hand.

"Ah yes, but in the Munich Circus, I was known as the incredibly  _Nightcrawler_ ," He smiled at her, quite pleased she didn't cut him off like so many did.

"C-circus?" Dahlia asked, still stunned.

Kurt hesitated seeing she still looked scared. "I am sorry about your popcorn," He slid off the counter top and started helping her pick it up. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Dahlia took a moment before she slid down beside him and started helping him pick it up.

"It's okay! You caught me off guard is all," She gave a reassuring smile,

"I suspect it is true one does not normally run into blue men hanging from a cabinet at night, ja?" Kurt said, smiling back.

"No, not often anyway." Dahlia deposited a handful of popcorn into the trash. "You were in the circus?"

"Ah, yes. The Munich Circus; I vas their star acrobat."

"That's really cool! I always wanted to take gymnastics."

"Vell, maybe one day I can show you tricks. I've not seen you before, are you a new student?"

"No, I tutor for physics." She bobbed her head. "I'm normally here in the afternoon."

"I see, I am the German teacher. I teach most often in the mornings."

"That must be why I haven't seen you yet. Why were you in here so late?"

"I vas feeling up for a midnight snack," He dumped the rest of the popcorn into the trash and took another bag of popcorn out to pop. He punched in the numbers into the microwave.

"Thank you for helping me pick it up," She smiled and pulled herself up onto the counter.

"It's the least I could do," He looked back to her, "After all it vas my fault you tossed the bowl into the air."

Dahlia laughed lightly. "What was the circus like?"

"Oh it vas very fun, I lived there with my adoptive mother and two siblings: a sister and a brother." He hesitated, "Unfortunate circumstances brought me to America, however."

Dahlia nodded her head in understanding. "Unfortunate circumstances seem to bring us a lot of places."

"Ja, but thankfully not all bad."

They listened to the hum of the microwave and his eyes trailing over her ears and to the tail that curled leisurely around her leg. A smile crawled onto his lips and he waved his own tail. She grinned seeing his tail for the first time and uncurled her tail from her leg to wave it back. She almost felt bad she'd had such a terrible reaction to him at first, he seemed incredibly nice.

"Vhat are your powers, if I may ask?"

"Uhm..Well, aside from the ears and tail I'm not totally sure. My hearing and sight is pretty good,  _sometimes_ anyway. I fell from four stories once and didn't die or anything. I can kind of see in the dark." She took her fingers and pulled her cheeks back to show her top set of teeth.

"My teeth are sharper than I remember from when I first left home." Her voice was funny from holding her cheeks back. "Sometimes I have some really great reflexes too, I don't even have to think about it, but that's really rare it happens." She paused for a moment, looking to the floor in thought. "My pupils slit sometimes, like a cat's I've been told." She shrugged, "I've never seen it though. I can't really do much of anything, evolution's failure I guess." She smiled weakly.

"Ah but you mustn't say that, Liebchen. I believe there is a purpose for everyone; perhaps you've not yet discovered your full purpose? Vhen you do, I'm sure you'll be able to do much more than you believe." He said reassuringly.

She watched him with a smile for a moment, the microwave beeping from behind him. "Thank you, I think you might be right." She poured her popcorn in the bowl and hesitated in the door way. "Will you be here for the Christmas party tomorrow night?"

"Ja, I vill be. Vill you?"

She shifted from foot to foot uncertainly. "Maybe! I better take them their popcorn before they decided to eat  _me."_

"Oh yes," He grinned. "Children vill do that if left unfed for too long a time."

"Savages! All of them!" She laughed, "Goodnight, Mr. Nightcrawler!" She called over her shoulder.

"Same to you, Ms. Dahlia. I pray that you vill survive the night." He said with a humorous gleam in his eye, giving a small wave before teleporting to his room.


	7. Chapter 7

Toad let out a deep breath as he flipped between the news station and a re-play of the previous day's soccer tournament on TV. The open window let in the cold, crisp air and the low mechanical hum of the cars in the city around him. Listening close enough you could hear the sound of a train bumping over tracks and the faint squeal of wheels in the distance.

The news lady droned on and on about the once anti-mutant propagandist: Senator Kelly. He glared at the man with hatred and, actually, smug pleasure. It seemed like their little 'experiment' in making him a mutant had turned his goals in a more mutant friendly direction.

Of course he had no idea at the time that Mystique was actually the one impersonating the man for the benefit of mutants. Really, he had no idea at all about Mystique; she could have been dead for all he knew.

He wondered where Sabertooth was hiding out these days; big numskull, he hated to admit it, but he missed the guy. They'd had an ongoing semi-friendship while he had been with the Brotherhood. Sabertooth would fail terribly at something, Toad would crack a few jokes and sometimes smooth it over. Of course sometimes he just couldn't be helped, like when he'd failed to bring Rogue back or had let Senator Kelly fall into the ocean.

Toad gave a half-hearted, hmp of a laugh and flipped the channel back to the soccer tournament. Utah loses to Texas by a point. He'd never really cared for the Utah team anyway, or Texas actually, but he figured he had to pick at least one side to root for.

He glanced at the clock; it was well past three in the morning, the day of Christmas Eve. The sun was just starting to come up outside. He hadn't been sleeping lately. On the table laid a couple of wallets, coins, dollars, credit cards, and I.D.s scattered all over the table.

He picked up on of the I.D.s. Apparently he'd mugged a high school girl the previous night. She'd been easy, they normally all were. Once they saw him they were willing to toss anything to him just to keep him—a mutie—at distance.

The I.D. said she was seventeen and lived up around Soho. With her sleek black hair and busty figure he snorted and wondered what she was doing on his side of town. How very unfortunate for her. He tossed the I.D. back on the table and briefly considered the multiple I.D.s and cards he'd picked up.

He tapped his fingers on the worn armrest of the old, light tan sofa. He didn't think it was originally tan though. If you moved the seat cushions, which he really regretted doing after finding something so horrifically gross I won't even dare to mention it, you could see the back part of the sofa was white.

What a terrible choice for a sofa: White. He didn't think he would ever get a white sofa, even if against all odds he fell into some immense fortune and had the money to frequently get it cleaned. It was just too easy to stain and he wasn't exactly the cleanest person either.

He picked up the remote ready to turn the TV off when he heard a faint meow sound from his window. He looked over to see a rather thin, sandy brown cat rub up against the window frame. It purred loud enough that he could hear it over the low murmur of the TV.

He eyed it tiredly for a few moments and it purred back at him, wide copper eyes fixed on him affectionately. It eventually invited itself in and hopped down onto the wooden floors and rubbed up against his leg. He reached down and ran a hand over its soft fur. It felt like the fur on Dahlia's ears, even looked like it.

" 'ello, kitten." He scratched behind its ears. "Lookin' for somethin' to eat, are'y?"

The cat meowed a desperate little cry and Toad got up to shuffle through his cabinets. He was really quite sparse on food at the moment; he was beginning to understand again what Dahlia meant when she said they liked to stay under the radar.

He'd only done his shopping at the run down store a few buildings down where the employees all looked hopelessly stoned each time he went in. He envied them, most drugs made him impossibly ill, it might have had something to do with his mutation like how soaps bothered his skin but he wasn't sure.

He opened a can of sardines from his cabinet and set it down in front of the cat. While she ate it in a hurry he walked over to the window to shut it, hoping to keep her furry company for a while longer.

He moved to pull off his shirt to get some sleep and the cat jumped back, eyes wide and tail bristled with fear. He glared, yanking his shirt off.  _Good,_  he thought.  _Be scared'a me._   _How it's s'posed to be._  But after a moment the cat settled down, it licked its paw and dragged it over its head lazily, pranced up to Toad to rub against his leg again.

"If you knew me kitten," He kneeled down to scratch behind its ear again. "You wouldn't be so fond of me."

* * *

He laid sprawled out on the sofa bed, his eyes flickering from under closed lids. The light from behind the closed window blinds trying desperately hard to wake him.

In an instant he sat straight up, hand on his chest in an attempt to calm his frantic heart. His furry friend, curled up on the arm rest, looking at him with sleepy eyes and a deep purr.

The clock blinked four PM, he'd only been asleep an hour. He rolled his tensed shoulders and laid back down. He stared up at the ceiling fan turning lazily overhead.

He'd always had a hard time sleeping, growing up at the orphanage where the boys had been so cruel he'd learned to be a light sleeper (Who knew what those little bastard would plot next.) but since leaving Dahlia, things had different.  _Worse._ _ **Lonely.**_

He had nightmares now. Well, he'd always had nightmares, but now he had them twice as much. He longed for the dreamless sleep that he had upon first waking up from a coma. Normally his dreams had been about the orphanage and his time in England, about the terrible people who mistreated him, but lately it had been about other things.

This one dream stood out to him and kept repeating itself in different ways. It always left him unnerved, not because of gore or violence though, because of abandonment. It was always the same, in some pleasant home his mind had decided to torture him with, then the orphanage.

He had a family, people who cared about him and he wasn't so alone. No, scratch that, he wasn't alone.

He'd be with them, sometimes he was a kid sometimes he wasn't, and everything would be going great. His mum would bring out some dinner and sit with him and his father and younger brother. He'd always wanted a younger brother when he was a kid, someone to look out for, even though he couldn't even look out for himself.

They would be watching some football, or as American's call it soccer. That was another thing; he'd always loved soccer, though he'd be a real gem at it with his legs. He'd tried getting Magneto to watch it with him once or twice, it never happened.

In the dream, they would talk about the game and make jokes, just a regular family enjoying dinner on a weekend he assumed. He put his hands over his face as his stomach churned with the emptiness the dream left him.

But then, as the game reached half-time, his family would pick up their things and the room would slowly melt into the walls of the orphanage as they left him and the taunting of the orphan boys would begin. He would try to talk to them—his family—plead with them. But, he was always unheard, like they didn't want to hear him, like he was nothing.

He pushed himself up wearily, the long nights finally taking a toll on him. He pulled a beer from the fridge, never quite sure how to deal with the emotions his dream lent him.

He took the cap off with the edge of the counter. His habit was starting to leave nicks in the counter and he figured he should get a real bottle opener soon, that or start buying the screw cap lids, the taste didn't matter much to him since his tongue got scorched. Not that he couldn't taste anything, just that it mattered less than it used to. He made his way back to the sofa, drinking half the bottle before he even sat down.

He would probably get a bottle opener; the actual bottle caps always made him feel cool.

He found himself wondering with remorse if Dahlia had been luckier than him or not. To know your family and face the pain and guilt of leaving or to never know your family and face the emptiness he assumed would always be there.

He thought about Dahlia a lot, everything about her. Her voice, her hair, her skin…how he felt in her, wrapped around her, kissing her…how she listened to him and trusted him, always seeming to count on him to look out for her even though she hid it. He'd seen that apprehensive look on her face more than once when he'd suggest she go out on her own; he'd always ended up going with her.

He nursed his beer, finishing it off. His cat sent him a seemingly scolding look but he ignored it and rested his head back on his pillow with closed eyes.

Sometimes he wondered why he'd left her, maybe his one chance at ever belonging, but the images of his dream drowned out his thoughts as he was dragged back to sleep. He would spend the holidays alone again, but that was nothing new to him.


	8. Chapter 8

Dahlia turned over in bed, her ears turned awkwardly to listen to the sleeping Jinx's breathing. She pulled her pillow to her chest tightly, wishing it were Mortimer. It had been almost a month now since he'd left and though she liked to believe that she were well over it, she wasn't. She took a deep breath; trying to exhale the pain she felt building in her chest.

She'd had so much fun with him before; she couldn't understand what she'd done wrong. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the pillow over her face. The mechanical hum from the tunnels seemed to be even louder than usual; she wished she could just block it all out.

She rolled over onto her back and yanked her pillow down to her stomach with frustration. Turning her gaze up to the ceiling her eyes trailed a moth fluttering through the cold air. She felt a vein in her eyes jump and a mild ache spread through them. Her sight amplified the moth and it seemed to jump out at her, much closer and full of detail. She flinched back in fear, rubbing her eyes quickly and blinked a few times. Her stomach sank in dread; what was happening to her?

She restlessly turned onto her stomach and buried her face into the familiar scent of her pillow; she pulled back with a grimace. Did her pillow always smell so strongly? She sat up in bed with another sigh, her ears pricked and attention snapped to Jinx as she stirred in her sleep. She clenched her blankets, staring at the girl.

If Mortimer had still been in the tunnels she would have just gone see him. It wasn't long past 10 pm. He was always still up at this time, still sometimes even working on things. Tweaking wires, turning gears, tightening screws, pulling pieces out and rearranging them in ways she didn't understand. She always watched him with curiosity wondering how he had managed to teach himself those things.

She thought of the time he'd crawled up onto the ceiling to fix one of the lights. She had spent half an hour searching for him and had passed through the room multiple times; she probably would have never found him if he didn't decide to speak.

_"Lookin' f'someone, kitten?" He had asked. She jumped at the sound of his voice, her gaze turned up to him suddenly with wide eyes full of startlement. He'd smirked down at her wearing the goggles that super-sized his eyes, one hand held a pair of pliers and the other limbs clung to the ceiling._

A smile spread across her lips from the memory; how many times did he watch her pass under him? Probably several times, he liked to do things like that. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She missed him, she really did. She tried to think of other things though, like her night at the institute tonight…

* * *

_**Flash Back** _

John laughed at the sight of spilled hot chocolate in Rogue's lap. The living room's furniture had been pushed back against the walls to make more room for the occasion. Various students reclined on the floor or squeezed together on one of the sofas watching the Christmas movie on TV. Christmas jingles played lowly in the background from the stereo beside the Christmas tree.

Storm resided in the kitchen with Jean trying to cook a decent holiday dinner for the remaining students after Kurt had distractedly forgotten to pull the Turkey out of the oven leaving it overly…erm, crispy.

A smile crawled on Dahlia's lips as the smell of the sweet potatoes and cinnamon hit her nose, her tail flicked to the side delighted. She stood at the island counter watching them check on the casserole. She was in charge of the cookies and had decided on making them from scratch.

Bamf. Dahlia jumped at the sound of Kurt appearing beside her, her tail fluffed out.

"Don't doooo thattttt," She whined and pursed her lips at him with a glower, smoothing her tail down. He peered into the mixing bowl curiously.

"Oooh, vhat is this?" He asked. He started to reach his finger into the bowl but Jean cast him a scolding look.

"Kurt…" She warned.

"Okay, okay, I vill go." He teleported back to the living room in time to see Rogue storm out furiously. Bamf. He vanished; reappearing perched on the back of one of the chairs. "Vhat happened?" He asked, looking to Kitty who rolled her eyes.

"Good job, John." She glowered at him and looked to Kurt, "He knocked Rogue's drink into her lap." She followed after Rogue before Kurt could say anything else.

"Not my fault she put her drink on the arm rest, man."

"Vell…shouldn't you apologize?" Kurt said hesitantly and John just scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked out the room. Logan snorted in the corner taking a long drag of his cigar as the Professor rolled in.

"Logan," He eyed the man disapprovingly with a raised eyebrow. "Do I need to get Jean to braid your hair?"

"I thought that threat only stood in Cerebro," Logan raised an eyebrow back at him and put the cigar out in the palm of his hand. He winced at the pain of scalding skin.

"Yes, well, I've extended the bounds." He smiled humorously.

Storm came walking into the living room followed by Jean.

"Dinner is almost ready," She said and cast a sideways look at Kurt. "With no thanks to Kurt, of course."

Kurt smiled sheepishly from his spot on the back of the sofa. "I am very sorry."

Storm crossed her arms and smiled warmly at him. "It's okay," She said.

In the kitchen John walked in to see Dahlia placing cookies on a cookie sheet.

"Oh nooo," He said, peering into the bowl. "You're cooking." He opened a cabinet that held the Advil and cough syrup. "Remind me where they keep the Pepto again?"

"Ha-ha." Dahlia laughed sarcastically. "So funny I forgot to laugh." She fake-glared at him.

"Ah but, you did laugh." He raised a finger and pointed at her slightly. She rolled her eyes as she slipped the cookies into the stove on the rack under the casserole.

Bamf. Kurt reappeared in the kitchen and stuck his finger into the cookie bowl while Dahlia wasn't looking. He made a disgusted face and a silent choke, teleporting away before Dahlia could see him. Dahlia turned to see John peering unto the bowl with an uneasy frown.

"What did you say you put in these again?"

"Oh you know, the normal." She smiled happily, pulling the pantry open.

"which iiss…?" He asked slowly.

"Some dried cranberries and oranges, oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, salt…uhm...vinegar …syrup…butter…garlic, sugar…" She paused to think about it, eyes scanning the kitchen. She gave a small, cheery laugh. "I forget what else." She chimed happily before walking out to join her friends in the living room.

John watched her walk out with raised eyebrows, reminding himself not to try the cookies. He'd definitely try to get everyone else to though.

Dahlia took a seat beside Kurt who perched on the back of the sofa. She smiled brightly up at him and he waved awkwardly back, not having the heart to tell her that her cookies would taste terrible.

Dahlia watched the Santa Claus movie replay on the screen. It felt good to be able to watch TV again, but most of all it felt good to be surrounded by close friends again. She reached over to the coffee table as Rogue, John, and Kitty came back into the room to watch the movie with them. She grabbed a handful of the colorful holiday candies Storm had set out for the students as they sat down.

Rogue sniffed the air along with Logan, they cringed, a disgusted look on their faces: Dahlia's cookies.

"What on earth is that god awful—Hey!" Rogue snapped at Kurt who whacked her with his tail. He put a finger up to his lips and looked to Dahlia. Logan picked up on it and shook his head with a laugh.

"Great." He muttered to himself.

Dahlia turned her eyes to the window and took in the falling snow. Her eyes lit up and a grin spread across her face.

"Guys! Let's have a snow ball fight,"

Rogue wrinkled her nose. "No way, it's too cold out there."

"You know what I think?" John asked, flipping open his lighter.

Rogue looked at him with a sour expression. "No, I don't, and I don't really care either."

"You're afraid to lose to me," He smirked.

"I am not!"

"Prove it,"

She glowered at him for a moment and he smirked back, a slight smile crawled up on her lips and she jumped up to run for the door followed by Pyro, Dahlia and Kitty. Kurt teleported to meet them in the foyer.

"Get your jackets!" Storm called after them and shook her head when they didn't seem to hear her.

"That's quite alright Storm, I'm certain they'll come back for their coats once they're outside." Professor said with a small chuckle. He cast a glance to Logan. "Logan, may I have a word with you in my office, please?"

Logan cocked at eyebrow but followed after Charles without question.

Outside, Rogue hurled a snowball at John. Just before it hit him he flicked open his lighter and melted it. He hurled a snow ball back at her and she dived away into the snow, throwing one at him again.

"Hey! No powers!" Kitty protested. She turned suddenly and went wide eyed at the snow ball coming at her face. It phased through her and hit Dahlia instead. Kitty covered her mouth as Dahlia wiped the snow from her face. "Oh my gosh! Sorry!"

Dahlia got a determined look on her face. "This means war!" She scooped a snow ball up to toss it at Kitty.

"What happened to no powers?" John smirked at Kitty just as Dahlia' snow ball hit her in the stomach.

Just then Kurt appeared in the air and fired a snow ball at Dahlia. She ducked and it hit Rogue between the shoulders. Just as fast as he scooped up a handful of snow he reappeared behind Dahlia and dumping it on her head. Some of the ice fell into her shirt and she shrieked at the cold.

"Ha!" John pointed at Dahlia and Kitty hit him with a snowball while was off guard.

Rogue wiped around to face Kurt and threw a snow ball at his chest. He slipped and fell back into the snow.

"Serves you right, blue boy!"

Jean and Scott watched from the window. Jean chuckled softly and turned to place her hands on Scott's chest. He placed his hands over hers and leaned forward to kiss her softly.

"Don't want to join them?" Scott asked, a sweet smile on his lips.

"You can't tell me you'd rather be out there," She cooed softly, "It's so much warmer in here." She slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He held her tightly, putting his chin on her head.

"You do have a point…" He swayed them side to side slightly to Michael Buble's White Christmas.

After dinner they all sat along the table past full. Storm breathed a sigh of relief; thankful dinner had been a success despite the lack of turkey. Dahlia was in the kitchen retrieving her cookies from the oven. Rogue and Kitty exchanged an uncertain look hearing something fall and clatter onto the floor.

Logan stared down at his empty plate; he looked up and around the group slowly. "Maybe we can all leave and say there was a mission,"

Jean sent him a scolding look, "We can't do that, I'm sure it won't be so bad. Right, professor?"

Charles tried to give them a reassuring smile, he opened his mouth to say something but waited a moment too long as Dahlia pranced into the dining room with her cookies on a plate, a wide smile on her face as she set the plate in the middle of the table.

"Here we are!" She chimed, swinging side to side cheerfully. "Enjoy!"

The phone ringed and John and Rogue jumped up for the phone but he was a second quicker.

"Got it," He made a quit exit and Rogue glared after him.

Kurt looked from the cookies up to Dahlia slowly. She grinned at him and nodded her head. Cautiously, he reached forward to take a cookie. The others watched him intently as if to make sure he wouldn't die. He took a small bite and chewed it slowly; he looked up to Dahlia with a forced smile and gave her a weak thumbs-up.

Dahlia's grin widened and she clapped her hands. "I'll get the milk!" She rushed back to the kitchen.

Kurt coughed, almost choking on the cookie but managed to force it down.

"Gott uns helfen…" He said quietly.

* * *

She was becoming better friends with the X-men now, everyone was always so friendly. She laid back down and snuggled up under the covers of her bed, compared to the bed and sheets at the mansion she felt like she were sleeping on old, dirty cardboard. She'd forgotten what it felt like to sleep in an actual bed.

She had been spending more and more time at the mansion and knew she wouldn't be able to hide it forever. Betsy had been asking more questions lately, becoming more suspicious. She'd even attracted the attention of Calisto and that scared her. Calisto wasn't someone she wanted to become suspicious of her, she thought that maybe it would just be better that she moved into the mansion. She would miss Betsy though, she wasn't certain that they would accept her back if she left and that frightened her. She hoped things would become less complicated soon.

Try as she might to focus on her time with the X-men, as her eyes closed for sleep her dreams were swayed back to memories of Mortimer. Though, her dreams perhaps twisted the truth and made the memories happier than they were for the sake of her well-being, she would wake up feeling sadder than before she slept.

* * *

New Year's Eve

Toad crouched on a short cement wall just outside of the bridge where other mutants had gathered for New Year's Eve. Here on the lesser side of town mutants walked around more freely than others and this had come to be one of the places they could hang out without being bothered. For the most part people avoided them out of fear, though looking around, Toad wasn't sure if they were all mutants or not. He liked to believe they were though, it made him feel less uneasy.

People gathered around fires that burned in metal trash cans. Some smoked, others sat around with their drugs of choice or drinking. Mainly everyone was just here for a good time where they didn't have anywhere else to go. He figured it beat spending the New Year watching reruns of  _Everybody Loves Raymond_  alone with another pack of beer.

He rubbed his cold hands together and breathed into them, a cloud of fog emanating from his breath. He thought of going join the others beside the fire but his anxiety kept him at bay. Instead his eyes scanned the groups of people gathered there.

Most of them looked just like they belonged under the bridge. Worn clothes, dirty faces and hair, prostitutes, cigarettes and booze all gathered in cliques. He reached his hand up and fiddled with his earring, a habit he'd formed since he'd first gotten it. His eyes trailed to the opposite side of the bridge, a girl in the shadows pushed a man against the wall and kissed him roughly. Overhead a motorcycle rushed by, drowning out the loud argument brewing a few yards from him.

A wave of nausea hit him and the street seemed to fall away. He closed his eyes hard and ran a hand over his face, trying to wipe away the sickness. He didn't notice the blue skinned girl who strolled up to him confidently and placed her arms across his shoulders. He met her eyes with a mixture of daze and confusion. A wave of lust hit him he couldn't explain and he grabbed her hips hungrily forgetting about the other people.

The girl laughed smugly pulling back slightly. At that the world around him seemed to snap back into focus and he shook his head to clear it. He shoved the girl away from him angrily, connecting the dots to the prostitute in front of him.

"Piss off," He spat the words at Jinx harshly, taking in the short skirt and plunging neckline she wore. The scent of cigarettes and cheap perfume overwhelmed his senses and he started coughing. She took a lazy puff of her cigarette and blew the smoke into his face out of spite. The smoke stung his eyes so sharply they started to water; His tongue snatched the cigarette from her hands and spit it to the ground before it could enter his mouth.

"Ooh, what's wrong? Don't want to sleep with me before you leave?" She cooed softly, a wicked smile on her lips. "I guess you only do that withtrash." She laughed slightly, a hateful gleam in her eyes as she turned away to find her next victim.

The words slapped Toad with the reality he'd been avoiding, and he felt the nausea that had left him with Jinx's retreating powers bubble up to the surface again. Intense fury from her referring to Dahlia as trash mingled with the intense guilt that he'd been treating her as such. He placed his elbows on his knees and cupped his hands over his mouth and nose as he Jinx approach another man. She placed a hand on his chest suggestively and led him away from the bridge.

He wondered how she could have known they slept together; he doubted that Dahlia had told her anything. Jinx wasn't somebody you just went and spilled personal things to and he doubted at all that she would have mentioned something to Betsy unless she'd been worried about pregnancy. They hadn't exactly considered protection that night. Shame washed over him and he ran a hand through his hair at the thought of leaving her pregnant. What if?

He jumped down from the small wall and followed after Jinx, set on getting answers, anything. He wanted to know Dahlia was okay at the very least and this may be his only chance to find out without hunting her down himself.

Jinx had led the man into an alley way not too far from the bridge when Toad found her. The man was slumped against the building looking like she'd slipped him a roofie while she filed through his wallet. The man's head lolled back to look at him as Toad approached but Jinx looked up a second too late. Toad had her shoved back against the wall, a hand firmly around her neck.

She sputtered in shock, clutching at his hand. He let her go and watched with satisfaction as she fell to her knees coughing. He took a few steps back; he knew it wouldn't be hard for her to render him stupid if she wanted.

" 'ow'd y'know 'bout me an Dahlia?" He asked, crossing his arms and leaning back against the opposite wall. Jinx choked for a second; wiping her mouth she pushed herself up slowly and glared at him furiously.

"It's not hard to figure out," She snapped at him, white eyes glowered at him with hatred. "She fucking cried for a week after you left, asshole." She threw the man's empty wallet at his feet, and began to walk away, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

The overwhelming guilt she left him with made him powerless to stop her from leaving, to ask if Dahlia was alright, but he supposed he had that answer now. 'Cried for a week,' he thought with remorse, studying the stupefied man slumped against the opposite wall. His mind bombarded him with thoughts.

Did she really care that much? Did it really bother her so bad? Did she honestly care? He felt stupid for leaving. He would never be able to make things right. She would hate him. She would never forgive him. She might forgive him. He should leave her alone. He should find her. He should apologize. He should shut up. He should forget about her, but he couldn't.

His stomach churned with the battle of emotions inside him. He almost wished he'd never gone out in the first place. Spending the night alone was starting to feel a lot more appealing than what he felt now.


	9. Chapter 9

January 7th

Dahlia turned around in the full length mirror of the institute to watch her tail sway side to side freely from the hole cut in the little red dress she wore. She along with Jean, Scott, Kurt, Logan, Storm and the Professor had been invited to a dinner party at some fancy mansion by Hank, the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, along with several other important government representatives.

Dahlia didn’t really completely understand the whole situation as to why they were going but she knew that Hank and Xavier had a very good relationship and they were hoping to build stronger mutant relationships with the people at the party tonight. Hank believed that this was the first step.

She wrinkled her nose though, not hiding her mutation made her uneasy. She stroked her tail self-consciously. She took a deep breath, not completely sure about this. What if someone recognized her? She snorted, like her family knew anyone so important, like her family _was_ anyone important.

A sly smile crawled on her face though and she cupped her butt in her hands. She _did_ look good though and she’d never considered wearing heels before to hide the funny way she walked on the balls of her feet all the time. Her smile turned into a grin and she gave her butt a squeeze.

**_BAMF!_ **

Dahlia shrieked and jumped back from Kurt. “Kurt!”

He grinned mischievously at her, she’d told him thousands of times not to do that, yet he still did. She slapped his arm in mock aggression.

He’d chosen a long sleeved button-down maroon red shirt that complimented his blue skin well along with black slacks. Hank had encouraged them not to hide their mutation, to embrace it, that they were safe, that he was making progress with the people. Dahlia turned quickly to look in the mirror again, a frown appearing on her face, she knew Kurt was up here to tell her they were ready to leave.

Sadness tugged at Kurt’s heart when he saw her expression and he placed his hands on her shoulders. “You look _lovely_ , Liebchen, do not vorry so much.”

Dahlia chewed her lip softly, careful not to cut herself with her increasingly sharp eyeteeth. “Thank you,” She said with hesitation, between her, Kurt, and Hank, they would be the only real mutant-looking mutants at the party. “It’s just…you know?” She turned to look at him, wide eyes full of concern.

“Yes, I do. But it vill be alright, I am certain of it. Dr. McCoy is very trust-vorthy” He took her hand to his chest in reassurance and she looked up at him with a small smile. “Ve shouldn’t have to hide how ve look, this is th’first step. Ve are in t’is together, ja?”

Dahlia’s smile grew and she took a deep breath, “Ja,” She replied raising her heels a bit, mimicking his accent. “Ve are in this together.”

“Good,” His lips pulled back in to a grin to reveal sharp, white teeth. He pulled her into a hug and she wrapped her arms around him contently. “Now ve must go, ja? Ja.”

Dahlia’s eyes widened, “Wha-hey!”

**_BAMF!_ **

* * *

 

Toad leaned onto the counter of a shabby, old underground bar not far from his house. He kept his head down with the hood of his jacket up even though the owner was said to be mutant. He didn’t know if that was true and that was why it was only him and another person in the place, or if it was false and just a dump. He snorted, he was just glad he found a place outside the eye of the public.

He jingled the ice in his glass of scotch, listening on edge to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and then the soft _ploooosshhh_ sound the seat made when the new comer took a seat beside him. Toad held his breath, glancing over towards the strong-jawed black haired man beside him.

The man gestured at the bartender who nodded an acknowledgement.

“The usual,” the man said and the Bartender slid a tequila Sunrise down to him. Toad snorted quietly at the girly drink. The man cocked an eyebrow with a slight smile, “Problem?”

“No,” Toad replied curtly, turning his attention to the TV in the corner. The anchorman stood in front of a home where several expensive cars were parked in the large curve of a driveway but whatever he was talking about went unheard since the TV was on mute.

“Looks like somebody’s throwin’ a party,” The man commented, trying to make friendly conversation.

Toad downed the rest of his scotch and pulled his hood farther over his head. He pushed his chair back to get up and started towards the stairs with hands stuffed into his pockets.

“The names Jamie,” The man said loudly over his shoulder to him, “Jamie Madox.”

Toad stopped in his tracks. Jamie? _The_ Jamie Madox? Multiple-man? He’d heard Mag’s speak about him before but they never could locate the guy. What did he want with him? Toad turned to face him cautiously.

“Yeah…thought you might know that name.” Jamie turned on his stool and leaned on his knee. “Why don’t we uh…find a quiet place and have a chat… _Toad?”_

* * *

 

Dahlia sat beside Kurt in the back of the limo, Jean and Scott on one side with Logan and Storm on the other with Hank and Xavier at the front. Dahlia stroked her tail continuously out of nerves and Kurt eventually put his hand on hers to stop her. Pulled out of her thoughts she looked up at him. His warm gaze held hers for a moment then trailed down to the fur she was starting to shed. She flushed red, trying to brush it off of her then picked at some of the strands on his pants.

“I’m sorry Kurt…” She said quietly, trying to keep her voice down, obviously embarrassed.

Hank just smiled at her warmly from his spot beside the professor. “Don’t be embarrassed, Dahlia” He told her and her face went redder when the others turned their attention to her. “It happens to me all the time.” He pointed at the fur on his face and chuckled.

The limo hit a hard bump in the road that sent Dahlia up, hitting the low ceiling of the limo then hard against Kurt and knocked Jean off her seat. The driver rolled down the window at the front.

“Sorry ‘bout that, didn’t see that in the road.”

“It’s okay, just please be more careful, and make sure we’re on time.” Hank said.

“Yes sir, jus’bout to pull up now.” The driver replied before rolling up the window.

“Are you okay?” Kurt asked Dahlia, watching her straighten herself up and rub her head a bit.

“I think so,” She winced as the limo came to a stop. Her heart sank as the valet opened the limo door for them and it came her time to step out. She stared with wide eyes at the crowd of people from within the windows.

“Hey kid, plannin’ on getting out anytime soon?” Logan said gruffly from behind her. Dahlia pouted and stepped out, going stand beside Kurt and Storm while the valets pulled professor’s wheelchair from the trunk. Her tail puffed out slightly from nerves when they actually made their way in.

Professor was greeted by several men off the bat and the others dispersed quickly aside from her and Kurt who stood around awkwardly. She spotted Storm across the room beside Xavier and Scott but after scanning the room again she couldn’t see Jean or Logan anywhere.

A server passed by then, offering them a drink. Kurt shook his head but Dahlia took one off the tray and sniffed it. Grimacing she placed it back, she couldn’t drink in front of professor, he knew how old she was. She inched closer to Kurt and leaned in to him.

“Should we go see the professor?” She whispered.

“I-I don’t know. The man…” Kurt trailed off, “I think it is Senator Kelly. Can you see?”

Dahlia narrowed her pupils into tiny slits, squinting to see the man till her vision zoomed into him a bit. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes till the aching went away.

“It’s Kelly,” She confirmed, remembering what he had told her in secret only a few days before. They knew Mystique was impersonating the Senator for mutant rights but as long as she was doing more good than bad they’d decided not to expose her, hoping she would cooperate with them.

Storm beckoned them over and Dahlia and Kurt exchanged a glance. She wondered if the others knew that she knew. Well, surely professor knew she knew? Her ears tilted back in dismay as she walked up to the man.

“Mr. Kelly, this is Dahlia and Kurt, I don’t believe you’ve had a chance to meet them before.” Professor said. He met Dahlia’s gaze and smiled reassuringly as if he were reading her mind, which, was actually a very plausible possibility.

“I don’t believe I have. Pleased to meet you,” Kelly smiled at the two and extended his hand to them. Dahlia’s eyes widened when she met his as she shook his (Or erm, her?) hand. Kelly smiled back before turning to talk with Kurt.

Dahlia stood back to watch the others talk; her heart kept pounding in her chest. Did she really just shake hands with a _terrorist?_ Someone who was willing to _kill_ for mutants to rule? Someone willing to lie, cheat, and _steal_ to get what they wanted? A shiver passed through her.  How terrible. Why they hadn’t turned Mystique in despite her sudden good deeds was beyond her, people like that shouldn’t be allowed to just walk around freely. 

A waiter brought by a tray of appetizers and she plucked a piece of salmon sashimi off quickly. She placed it in her mouth and closed her eyes, savoring the taste. Your first thought may be to think this had to do with her cat-like mutation, but really, she just loved sushi.

She hadn’t been told much about what happened with Magneto aside from who Magneto and Mystique were and a bit about what they believed and had done. She knew Rogue had been the one Magneto was willing to sacrifice for the “greater good” of mutants, but nobody really talked about it much. She suspected if Kurt hadn’t of found out as much as he had, she probably wouldn’t have found out anything at all.

Dahlia shifted her weight to her other foot, her eyes following the sushi tray into the crowd. She decided to set on after it, weaving her way through the crowd of people. She watched the server disappear behind a pair of closed doors and pouted at her lost snack.

“ _Dahlia?_ ”

Dahlia whipped around with wide eyes to the feminine voice behind her. She was met by the wide eyed gaze of a young lady with sleek black hair to the middle of her back. Dahlia’s mouth fell open. It was Diana, from her AP Chemistry class in high school.

“D-D-Diana,” Dahlia stuttered, her pupils widened abnormally.

The girl’s jaw dropped. “No. Way. You’re like, a mutant.” Her face seemed to light up in realization. “Everyone said you were kidnapped! No way!”

Dahlia’s eyes darted around for a way out. “Y-you can’t let anyone know!” She whispered to her urgently, getting closer. “I-if my parents f-find out, if people find out, I don’t know what’ll happen!”

Diana’s eyebrows turned up in concern. “Whoa like no concern. I graduated ages ago; I don’t even talk to half those people anymore.” She shook her head, “I don’t even _live_ here anymore. What happened to you?” She stared at Dahlia’s ears and her lips pulled back grimly. “I mean, not like that, I mean like, you know, you ran away?”

“Ssshh!” Dahlia put a finger up to her lips, “I can’t talk about it here…but yes,” Her tail tried to curl around her leg but being they’d cut a hole in the fabric for her tail, her dress prevented her. “I need to go!” She said, ducking her head, shame staining her cheeks.

“Girl, wait!” Diana caught her arm, and Dahlia’s gaze snapped back to her, pupils slitted. Diana let go of her quickly with a fearful look at her eyes. “I-I was going to ask for your number.”

Dahlia looked at the fear in her eyes sadly. Diana had been a good friend in high school, why would she ever look at her fearfully? She felt tears sting at her eyes in an attempt to break free.

“I don’t…have a number…” Dahlia said quietly. Diana opened her clutch bag quickly and pulled out a tube of liquid eyeliner.

“I can give you mine?” She asked with an apologetic smile on her face.

“S-sure, quickly.” Dahlia looked around the room, eyes searching frantically for her friends. She realized with a tinge of embarrassment most specifically she searched for Kurt. Diana wrote the number on the back of her palm quickly.

“It’s waterproof, so you’ll need some serious soap to get it off tonight, alright?” Diana told her and Dahlia nodded her understanding. “Look, mutant or not, you’re my friend, you need anything you call me up, okay? Oh! Here comes my dad, I’ll see you around.”

“Okay,” Dahlia said weakly, “See you.”

Her eyes scanned the room again and she walked out into the crowd. Eventually making her way to the opposite side of the room she stood against the wall and tugged down at the end of her dress. She frowned. In high school, before her mutation, this would have been a dream for her; the fancy home, the delicious food, the endless socializing, everything, but now it just left her wanting to go to bed.

“Doing alright?” A blond haired man asked coming to stand beside her. “Look a little frazzled.”

Dahlia jumped when he spoke, she hadn’t heard him come up with all the other noise around her.

“Oh, yeah, I’m just looking for my friends…” She said softly and smiled politely.

The man just smiled charmingly at her. “Not leaving so soon, are you?” He asked.

Dahlia looked him over; he wore a grey button down vest with some black slacks much like Kurt’s. Blond hair was combed back and striking blue eyes trailed down her body.

“No, not at all.” She said, turning her attention to him. Hey, why not? She was a free woman, wasn’t she? Her mind jumped bitterly to thoughts of Mortimer and a frown threatened to ruin her smile.

“Great, cause uh,” He ran a hand over his mouth and leaned in a bit closer to whisper in her ear. Her eyes watered at the stench of alcohol. “You know, when you are ready to leave, maybe I could show you my place.”

Dahlia raised an eyebrow, a smirk crawling on her face at his suggestion.

“I know you’re a mutant and all but that’s kind of hot, I’ve always had a thing for Furries.”

Dahlia’s face fell. _Furries?_ She pulled back at him and glared.

“I am **_NOT_** a furry.” If she would have had a drink she would have tossed it in his face. She started to pull her hand back to slap him but stopped suddenly. The tips of claws seaming out of her finger tips, she remembered what she’d done to her father so long ago. That was definitely not a good impression to make for mutants.

Instead she turned and rushed away, tears welling up in her eyes. What did he have? Some mutant fetish? Furry? What even was a furry? Was she a furry?! The hell is that?! She thought though, that at least someone liked it, even if Mortimer didn’t, but she knew that wasn’t at all how she wanted things to be and the thought only upset her more.

Kurt caught sight of her pushing her way past people in a hurry, mascara running down her face before she disappeared into the hall. He made his way after with ease, being blue and all, he was sort of hard not to notice and the crowd parted for him. He would have just teleported if professor hadn’t warned them about using their powers tonight; it could have been viewed as threatening.

“Dahlia..?” He called out down the hall quietly, getting farther from the murmur of the crowd with every step. He could hear the quiet hiccupping cries and sniffles she gave but had a hard time placing them. He turned a corner and paused to listen carefully; he peered into a partially open room that appeared to be a small study.

First thing he saw was the empty chair at the desk. He looked down at the sniffling just inside the room at the wall under the light switch. Dahlia sat with her knees to her chest, trying to dab at her eyes with a tissue from the box she’d stolen off the desk.

“Liebchen, vhat happened?” He asked softly, quietly closing the door behind him he went and took a seat beside her.

“Some jerk asked me to go back to his place because,” She hiccupped another sob, “because he had a thing for—for furries.” Her voice got higher and more difficult to understand the more she spoke till she started crying again.

Kurt put an arm around her with care, partially confused on what she said. Furries? Vhat was that? He fell silent, not quite sure how to respond.

“He j-just w-wanted me for a fetish,” She wiped her eyes with the tissue before blowing her nose into it and pulling another tissue from the box. “Is that the only reason guys will sleep with me?! Because they’re either too drunk to stop themselves or I fit their freaky _fetish?_ Like what did I ever for this? Am I that weird? Are these really that weird?! They’re not that weird! You’re _blue_ and I’d still sleep with you, _not_ because of a _fetish_ , you’re _hot_ and not a _furry_ ” She babbled and Kurt blinked in confusion.

A new set of tears broke out and she babbled something Kurt couldn’t understand. He rubbed her shoulder awkwardly and listened to her endless stream of incoherent babble till she seemed to calm down and cuddled against his shoulder.

“I’m not a furry,” She told the puzzled Kurt with a pout.

“No, you are not one bit a furry, leibchen.” He said carefully, trying to be reassuring.

She sniffled. “Idunno what a furry is,”

“I…I do not either,” He confessed and Dahlia laughed at her stupidity. Kurt smiled a bit, not sure if he should laugh too or not.

“I’m sorry,” She wiped at the mascara on her face with her tissue. “It wasn’t even a bit deal, it just, struck a chord in me.” Her lips twitched down into a frown for a second and Kurt was scared she would start crying again. “Reminded me of something.” She felt her cheeks starting to burn now. Oh god, she didn’t _really_ mention the drunk thing, did she? _Oh god,_ did she _really_ say she would sleep with him because he wasn’t a furry? _Oh god…that’s so weird…_

“It is alright,” Kurt patted her shoulder with a smile coming back on his face though still hesitant, his arm still around her. “Ve are in t’is together, vight?”

“Vight,” Dahlia sniffled with a small smile, forever glad Kurt wasn’t the type of friend to run away when you lost your marbles.

* * *

 

Toad and Jamie sat in the farthest booth in the corner of the bar. He’d ordered himself a beer while he watched Jamie sip on his tequila.

“Look, I’m just saying you might wanna consider it.” Jamie said putting his hands up in a shrug. “Last I heard through the vine, Mag’s wasn’t doin’ so good.”

Toad looked at the man steadily. “Wot y'know ‘bout Mag’s?”

Jamie looked out into the quiet bar where the bartender was busy drying glasses and leaned in across the table. “They have him locked up in some fancy-shmancy plastic prison last I heard.”

“An’ Mystique?”

Jamie shrugged, leaning back and crossing his hands over his chest. “Dunno, never heard anything about her, like she dropped off the face of the Earth.”

Toad snorted. Of course she did, not like she’d have a problem blending in somewhere. Hell, for all he knew she could be the bartender cleanin’ glasses over there in the corner.

“So, what you say, you in?” Jamie asked with a charming half-smile and leaned forward again.

Toad looked at him suspiciously. “Wot’s in it f’me?”

Jamie shrugged and Toad wished he could wipe the smile off his face, it was really getting’ on his bloody nerves.

“I don’t know. What do you want? Money? Revenge? Girls?”

Toad laughed humorlessly. “ _Girls?_ Bloody hell, ‘ave y’looked at me lately?” He shook his head in disbelief that the man had even mentioned it. He took a swig of his beer then looked down at the table, his mind drawn back to what Jinx had told him a few days ago about Dahlia. His knee shook and he pushed himself up from the table suddenly.

Jamie sat back in surprise and watched the man.

“I’ll think ‘bout it.” Toad muttered over his shoulder after he’d grabbed his beer.

He made his way down the cold, dark streets with his head down. The beer bottle clinked loudly on the bottom of the trash can he tossed it into. _Girls._ _Bloody girls._ He snorted again at the very idea at it. He didn’t want _girls_ he wanted a _girl_.

He clenched his teeth together. He wanted Dahlia. He shook his head, he could use money though. Who couldn’t use money?  But revenge; ah yes, now revenge was something he could use. Revenge on all the terrible _sapiens_ that’d caused him so much pain. He wanted them to suffer just as much as he had.

He glared at the woman who was locking up her shop as he walked by. She fumbled with her keys till she had a tight grip on the pepper spray she held in case he tried anything. He only laughed and spit slime at her feet. With a shriek she jumped back. A triumphed smirk settled onto his lips as he continued on his way, he could almost feel her fearful gaze burrowing into his back.

He took a deep breath though, watching his footsteps crunch in the melting snow. He had tried to find Dahlia, it’s not like he hadn’t, she just hadn’t been anywhere he looked and Jinx seemed like she'd moved her game after their little ahem, "run-in". His mouth settled into a grimace. He didn’t dare go back to the tunnels, but he would of thought she would have at least gone out for food at some point within the past week.

He didn’t even have a plan for what he would do if he found her. He supposed he just wanted to _find_ her to begin with, maybe he would even leave it at that. He couldn’t imagine himself apologizing. What? ‘ _O_ _h,_ _terribly rude o’me t’walk out on y’after we shagged, love, my apologies.’_  He rolled his eyes and breathed out deeply, looking into the windows of shops as he passed by. He was terribly poor at handling women but even he knew that would go off bad, even with a woman like Dahlia. There was really just no way of mending things with her. He paused in front of a shop, peering at an object in the window. Or was there?


	10. Chapter 10

January 9th

Angry shouts could be heard after Dahlia as she ran down the streets, the air frigid.  Her shoes soaked through from the melting snow she ran through. Puffs of fog came out with every breath and eyes darted around for a way to escape. With her heart pounding, she skidded across the cement of the sidewalk and ducked into an alley for cover. Trapped.

The three men chasing her came to a stop outside her alley. The leader, tapping a baseball bat into the palm of his hand, smiled menacingly at her. Dahlia panted hard and stared at them with wide eyes. She shrunk back against the brick wall as they approached. No time to think.

She kicked her shoes off and started to scale the wall behind her, praying with everything she had that her constantly unstable mutation wouldn’t fail her now and send her to her death. A man below her cursed something out and aimed a gun at her unsteadily. His friend cursed at his failure and took the gun from him and shot at Dahlia himself.

The bullet narrowly missed her ear, only grazing the tip before she managed to pulled herself over the edge and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Her intention had been to jump to the building opposite her but she stopped herself. Tears welled in her eyes. They were climbing the fire escape now. Think. Think. Think.

If she went back down she risked one of them catching her. If she stayed up there she _would_ be caught. She backed up and, taking a deep breath, she started running again till she flung herself across the gap. She caught the edge of the opposite building, her jump made weak from fear. Shaking, she pulled herself up and repeated the process till she was far from the anti-mutant extremist.

Dahlia perched on the cone like roof of a buildings tall electrical unit, one which you could open the door below and walk in. She stared out at the city below her, catching her breath slowly, a triumphed smile crawled onto her face. She had _done_ it. Her mutation hadn’t completely failed her as it so often did, though she knew from the professor’s observations her mutation was…evolving, so to speak. It thrilled, frustrated and terrified her all at the same time.

She ran a hand through her hair and touched the sore tip of her ear. She’d been on her way back to the tunnels when a hard wind had blown her headband off. I supposed you could say it had been just her luck that the men she’d been passing were anti-mutant extremist. She swelled with a bit of pride and laughed, moving to stand out of her crouch. Nothing could stop her badass mutant butt now!

* * *

 

Toad squinted through his goggles, tightening the screws on his contraption before he jumped up onto the wall of the bank and made his way up. Below him, Jamie would be breaking in once Toad had a chance to do his part of the deal.

This whole bank heist had been just one of the things that Jamie originally talked to him about. Not, you know, the _big_ stuff but enough to get him some cash. What Jamie really wanted was the jewels in the safety boxes inside to sell on the black market.

A smirk played across Toad’s lips. It felt nice to get back in the game, to be _useful_ with something to someone. It hadn’t really taken him long at all to decide to call the man back and accept his deal. It wasn’t like he had anything going for him; he was basically going in circles with his life. And he'd been as far unable to find Dahlia, he needed a distaction for when he wasn't put looking for her. Plus, he actually kind of hoped that Jamie might consider him a friend eventually.

Toad pulled the contraption from the pocket of his coat and rubbed a smug of dirt off it affectionately, his inventions were always like children to him. He went to pick the lock on the door when his head snapped up at a rustling sound and he listened carefully, walking around to the other side of the rooftop’s electrical building, ready to attack whoever was there.

What he saw left him frozen. Dahlia hung off the edge of the electrical building’s roof, her jacket caught on a stray bit of metal.  Toad’s stomach churned as he watched her expression light up at the sight of him…then drop, as if on second thought.

Okay, let's just take a moment to back track here. After Dahlia successfully evaded the bad men chasing her, she had been feeling pretty proud of herself and had decided to stand up on the cone roof of the electrical building heroically...It was true her mutation was developing farther yes, but not quite so much to the point that one might not fall off said cone roof and get stuck on a rogue metal strip.

“Help?” She squeaked and smiled a bit weakly, reaching out to him awkwardly with the way her jacket pulled her arms. Her tail twitched side to side slightly at the thought of someone saving her. To hell with why he was there to begin with, she just wanted to get out the cold. Her toes and fingers were stiff from it.

He turned to the side, then back to her. His heart throbbed uneasily in his chest with his throat getting tight. It felt like his heart was trying to crawl into his mouth. He was unprepared. He’d played this scene out in his mind a billion times but not once did it involve unintentionally running into her in the middle of a bank heist while she was stuck hanging by her jacket on top of a building in the freezing cold. He rubbed his goggles as if that might help him see that she weren’t actually there and maybe that he was just insane.

“ _Dahlia_? Bloody hell, I’ve been lookin’ for y’everywhere.”

Dahlia’s face dropped. She wanted to say that he could have fooled her. She wanted to point out he could have just come back to the tunnels, she did still live there after all. Most of all she wanted to glare icy daggers into his soul for leaving but she couldn’t bring herself to it. Her mind darted to all the possibilities of why he didn’t come back and settled against her will with giving him the benefit of doubt.

“I got a job.” She blurted suddenly, directing the attention somewhere else.

Toad’s mind jumped to the job he was on now and felt his palms sweat in panic. If he started asking about her job there was the possibility later on down the road- if there was a later- that she would ask about his job, and that, he couldn’t have.

“Brilliant,” He said and his eyebrows rose a bit. “Good f’you.” He really did mean it.

“Yeah…” Her voice trailed off into an awkward silence between the two. The wind howled quietly.

“How’d y’get up there?” He raised an eyebrow. She shook violently from the cold.

“If you get me down, I swear you can ask all the questions you want.”

Toad flipped open a pocket knife and Dahlia’s ears pricked in alarm but he only cut her free. Being she were only a couple feet from the ground you would have thought she would land easily on her feet, but instead her leg gave out under her with a sharp gasp of pain. He caught her by the arm before she could hit the ground.

“S’matter?” He asked in alarm.

“Aah..” She reached down to touch her ankle and he came to the conclusion on his own.

“Y'ankle is twisted,”

“How do you know?” She asked a bit challengingly and he glowered slightly.

“Can you walk?”

Her ears went back and she looked away. “No.”

“Then y’twisted it.”

“Well, what if it’s broken and I need to go to the hospital?”

He snorted and eased her down to the ground before pulling his jacket off to give it to her.

“Oh a mutant with a sprained ankle, brilliant, they’ll love it.”

“Well,” She fake-scoffed like she’d done so often with him in the tunnels. “It wouldn’t be a sprained ankle; it would be a broken ankle.”

“I’m sure, love.” His lip pulled back in a bit of a smile for a moment and she found herself smiling back. Though just as suddenly as the moment came on she dropped her smile and he found himself averting his eyes.

“I need to fix something,” He said and started walking back around to the door.

Dahlia’s mouth fell open. “But it’s cold,” She protested and leaned over to try and see where he was going.

“I’ll take y’back to m’flat in a bit,” He called to her from where he picked the lock.

“What?” Her ears pricked. What the hell was a _flat_?

“Apartment,” He called back. He hoped she would be okay with that but it wasn’t like she had much say in the matter at the moment. He wasn’t keen on going back to the tunnels where Betsy would most likely hate the very existence of his soul along with Jinx. For all he knew she had her little tunnel mates on the lookout for him.

Dahlia sat back and blinked. He’d gotten an apartment? Maybe that was his reason for not coming back, though it wasn’t a very good reason at all, he could have at least told her something. She furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the ground. What was he doing up there anyway? Now that she was getting warmer in his jacket, it made her curious.

She cocked her head to the side and listened to the hum of the air conditioners die down suddenly with confusion. He came back around a few moments later and pulled her back up. “Get on my back,” He told her.

Dahlia’s tail fluffed out. She’d seen him jump down from heights before.

“Why?” Her voice rose a bit. She perched herself against the wall and watched him turn around to crouch down.

“How else you expect to get down from ‘ere?”

“You’re going to jump from here?” Her voice got higher.

“Are you cold or not?” He retorted.

Dahlia tried to curl her toes but they moved stiffly and her skin was an odd color. She took a deep breath and put her arms around his neck. He walked over to the edge where he jumped down, earning a shriek from Dahlia.

* * *

 

Dahlia rested her chin on his shoulder in silence as he carried her back to his place. She couldn’t help wondering why he didn’t just jump the roof tops to get there but thought that maybe it had to do with the fact that she would probably scream at every jump. Nobody wanted to hear that.

They got a few strange looks but for the most part people left them alone. It was harder to see Toad’s mutation at night than in the day and she had the hood of his jacket pulled up to hide her ears. She could see the fog clouding around his breath when he breathed and could have sworn she felt a shiver pass through him. She frowned a bit, feeling bad for taking his jacket, though noted that his hands were awfully close to her backside.

“Why don’t you take me back to the tunnels?” She asked quietly as the scenery around them started to become more and more run down. Sketchy figures leaned back in the shadows, watching them pass.

“Too far,” He said simply and she felt her ears go back. She didn’t like the way he said that, it sounded different from how he normally spoke and left her wondering just how far they really were from the tunnels. She was certain even if they climbed into the tunnels from one of the manholes here she could totally find her way back, though that was likely far from true. She decided not to push her luck and get stranded.

She stared up at what she could only presume to be an apartment building. The bricks were dirty and aged with cracks running through the walls. Laundry was hung to dry off some of the balconies while it looked as if other windows had once had balconies but had lost them a long time ago. Dahlia’s shivers died down farther as the heat in the building hit her.

A bit of a smirk crawled onto Toad’s face for a moment when he felt her clutch onto him tighter. He would have thought with her being homeless for so long she would have been used to places like this by now but he supposed that Betsy tried to keep her close to home.

His smirk faded as he made his way up the stairs and remembered all the trash lying around his apartment, namely the various stolen wallets, cash, and IDs. He set her down in the hall while he unlocked his door.

“Wait ‘ere.”

“Why?” Dahlia looked down the empty hall nervously.

“Need t’clean up a bit,” He shook the door knob and threw his weight against the door before he could open it.

“I don’t mi-” She started to say but he closed the door behind him. She pouted. “Rude.”

Toad looked around his messy apartment and took a deep breath. Empty beer bottles everywhere, an over-flowing trashcan, the IDs, wallets and crash on the coffee table, sheets tossed on the floor from his sofa, empty chip bags, a half-eaten bag of Oreos on top the fridge.

He moved quickly, first picking up the stolen goods and shoving them into a drawer in the kitchen. He attempted to discard the beer bottles in the trashcan but ended up pushing them under the kitchen sink. Throwing the sheets back over the sofa he went back to open the door quickly.

Dahlia’s head snapped up and they stared at each other for a moment.

“Alright,” He said.

“Okay?” She blinked.

“Come on,”

“…” She blinked again and pushed herself up, hopping on one foot towards him. He put her arm around his shoulder and helped her to the sofa.

Dahlia plopped down and looked around while he went into the kitchen.

“Clickers on the coffee table,” He said, peering into his nearly empty cabinets. He grimaced; he really should have done more shopping but it wasn't like anyone ever stopped in for a chat.

Dahlia looked down quizzically, finding the remote where he said it would be. She flicked on the TV and curled up in the corner of the sofa.

“So, how ‘bout it?” He asked, pulling a couple beers from the fridge; two beers, that was her limit. He didn’t want her doing anything she regretted later and he didn’t trust himself to stop her.

“How about what?” She turned in her seat to look at him.

He set the beers on the counter and turned to pull the bag of Oreos off the fridge. Glancing to his right his heart jumped at the dirty magazine he’d left sitting by the toaster. He took it quickly and stuffed it in the utensil drawer.

“The roof. Gettin’ stuck.”

“Oh,” Turning to look back at the TV she saw some Disney movie was playing, it looked like Snow White. She wasn’t too thrilled about telling him she’d gotten chased and ended up running barefooted on roofs. She frowned a bit.

He waited for her reply, watching her from the counter with a cocked eyebrow. Eventually he took the drinks and cookies to the coffee table in front of her and looked at her quizzically.

“Some peopllleee may have chased meee…” She said timidly, studying her toes and moving them now that the feeling was coming back.

“And?” He was starting to give her a rather nasty look and it made her squirm. He had always told her to be more careful, then again, everyone did.

“Yeeaahhh…” She curled her fingers over her toes. Toad took a drink from his beer, knee shaking nervously. He decided to drop the subject before he drove her off; he wasn’t exactly in the position to be nitpicky with her.

Dahlia took a cookie from the package and twisted the two halves part before licking the inside. The TV was on mute but neither of them moved to turn the volume back on. Toad listened to her take a shallow, tense breath but kept his eyes fixed on the TV.

He looked back to his room, the one without a bed. He would have to get it later, things were too tense now. He rubbed the back of his neck and thought of the lack of soap in his bathroom.

“Shouldn’t I ice it?” Dahlia asked, breaking the long silence.

Toad shook his head, “Hinders the healin’.”

“I was always told to do that for swelling though,”

“The swellin’s good, helps it heal.”

“How?” She tilted her head to the side and turned her body to face him, resting her knees against the back of the sofa. He studied her for a moment before he replied.

“Swollen cells... they produce a hormone that helps with muscle regeneration.” He nodded at her ankle. “If y’want it to heal faster, leave it. Swellin’ll go down on its own.”

“How did you find that out?” She asked, pulling his jacket off and putting it over the back of the sofa. It always surprised her when he knew something she didn’t because his lack of formal education. Really, it seemed like he knew more than she did most the time. The thought irked her a bit; she’d always prided herself in her studies.

Toad shrugged and pushed the remainder of the Oreos closer to her. Dahlia took the cookies from the coffee table and placed them in her lap and pulled another one apart. They sat in silence again. Snow White had finished and a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond was coming on.

“I love this show,” Dahlia said absent-mindedly.

“It’s good,” He replied, nodding his head. He glanced at the beer on the table that was untouched and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach that she was reluctant to have any alcohol at all. He figured she didn't trust him either, he looked down at his fingers on the arm rest sadly, she had every right not to.

“Am I going to sleep here?”

“Y’could sleep outside,” He forced a smile. “Freeze your arse off.”

“I had enough ass freezing today,” A shiver ran through her at the memory and she found herself telling him about the anti-mutant men despite her previous intentions.

Toad sucked on his teeth, trying to keep his anger down. He wanted to go out there and find them himself but downed the rest of his beer instead.

“My mutation though,” She continued when he didn’t only shook his head angrily. “It’s been changing.”

This caused him to look at her curiously.

“Changin’?”

“Yes, like,” She wanted so badly to curl her tail over her feet but the cargo pants she wore prevented it; her tail stuffed into one of the pants legs. “A few months ago, sometimes my claws wouldn’t always come out, remember? At least, not on every finger. Then, I couldn’t always see really well in the dark, but now I see perfectly.” She took another Oreo and twisted it apart to lick the inside. “I really don’t like it though, it makes it difficult to sleep. Or maybe it’s less that and more…something else.”

He watched her pupils narrow into slits with thought for a moment before she looked up to him. “I don’t know what though.” Her ear twitched back and she sniffed. “What’s that?”

“What’s what? Don’t have your ears, love.”

"Not my ears..." Dahlia paused and continued to listen. His cat jumped up on the back of the sofa and she jumped back with a tiny shriek. Pulling herself onto the arm of the sofa she pointed at the cat.

“I’m allergic!”

He stared at her stupidly, then looked to his cat.

“What you mean?” He felt a bit defensive of his pet; he’d really taken a liking to Mittens. “You've got ears and a bloody tail.”

“So?! I’m not a cat!” She protested, “Are _you_ a Toad?”

He paused and seemed to think about this for a moment with a tilt of his head.

“Alright, good point.” He scooped up Mittens and brought her to his bed room where he disappeared for a moment.

Dahlia pressed her lips together. She rubbed her furry ears then sniffed her hand to see if maybe she _was_ allergic to herself. When she didn’t have a reaction she shrugged. Turning her attention back to the TV she was just starting to wonder why he was gone for so long when he came back, something in his hand.

“I uh…I missed y’birthday.” Toad said looking at her, leaned forward with elbows on his knees. “Felt bad ‘bout it…Thought I’d make it up to you.” He looked down and swallowed then held out a necklace to her. "Get y'something..."

Dahlia tilted her head and stared for a moment, then reached out with some hesitation. A small smile crawled up onto her lips and she looked at it sweetly. From a delicate golden chain, a tiny cat figure curled around a small pink pearl, holding it in place with a content smile and closed eyes as if it were sleeping.

She looked up at him slowly. “It has a pearl…” She said softly with her smile growing slightly.

“Yea, I remembered y’sayin’ somethin’ about pearls…” He bobbed his head a bit to the right when he spoke, wringing his hands together.

He looked at her hesitantly, fearing she didn’t like it. He couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips at the look she gave him though. It made him think that maybe he’d done the right thing after all…even if he had stolen it.


	11. Chapter 11

Dahlia turned over on the makeshift sofa bed and clutched his pillow tightly.

She stretched out, the warm sunlight pouring in over her from old windows. In front of her the TV still on mute, the morning news playing. She turned the volume on low and stood on one foot to hop to the kitchen, her stomach growling its hunger.

In the back ground the news lady laughed at something her companion said before she went on to the next story.

"In other news, a chain of banks were broken into last night where next to one hundred thousand dollars was stolen. The power along with security system was disarmed by a peculiar type of device officials are looking into now. No word has been released on possible suspects but a guard beaten unconscious says to be on the lookout for a black haired male, about 5'11'' in height, and a mutant who appears to be able to create duplicates of himself. There is no word yet on how this will affect the progress of mutant affairs with Dr. Hank and his stance against mutant registration. Back to you, Robert."

Dahlia knocked on Toad's door quietly, turning the knob to peer in. Her heart melted a bit when she saw the bare room he slept in.

On his bundled up jacket he rested his head on the floor, Mittens curled up beside him purring contently, both sound asleep.

She closed the door softly with a small smile. Though she couldn't help but feel bad, if she would have known the sofa was the only place to sleep, she would have slept on the floor. As she hopped over to the kitchen for breakfast she thought that maybe that's why he didn't let her know in the first place.

Peering into the cabinets, balanced on one foot, she found a nearly empty box of cereal and what appeared to be a clean bowl. After peering into the fridge she determined the milk was expired and started opening a few drawers in search of a spoon.

She found one. Under the play boy magazine he'd obviously so smartly hid. A funny little smile crawled on her face that she tried to keep back. He _hated_  when she picked at him for something, but she just _had_  to for this.

She giggled quietly and closed the drawer after fetching a spoon before she plopped down to listen to the news. They'd moved onto a segment about some reality TV star who was pregnant with some celebrities baby.

Spooning a mouthful of cocoa crisps into her mouth she thought about the week at hand. She needed to get back to the tunnels so Betsy wouldn't worry; she'd already earned enough suspicion. Maybe Toad's place was just the cover up she needed. The second problem at hand would be not being able to go to work. She figured she could hop on one leg to a bus stop or something but didn't like being helpless like that. Suppose the extremist spotted her? She stopped chewing and her jaw tensed as she remembered them. With a shake of her head she pressed a button on the remote and put on some early morning cartoons.

She felt really kind of bummed out though, missing a week at work. Kurt was supposed to teach her some tricks soon and they had been talking about including her in a training session soon.

With a sigh she spooned another bite into her mouth and figured she would just have to wait a bit longer before she started down the official road of being an X-man.

Her ears angled themselves in the direction of his door behind her as he pushed it open. Mittens went to weave between his legs and escape but he caught her and put her back behind his closed door.

With a tilted of his head in an attempt to stretch the kink out of his neck from the floor he walked to the fridge for something to drink. Upon remembering all he had was beer he walked back to the sofa and took a seat beside her. Immediately, he noticed the spoon in her hand with dread. He groaned inwardly.

Dahlia sat in silence, eyes fixed onto the TV while she spooned another mouthful into her mouth. Emphasizing closing her mouth around the spoon, she paused to glance at him. Pulling the spoon from her mouth she chewed slowly, a self-satisfied smile turned up her lips as she watched his mouth open then close again. She swallowed and grinned.

“You know, I always thought your skin was more of a greenish color…” She squinted at his face. “Not red.”

He leaned back into his seat carefully. With a sheepish smile held back on his face he ran a hand through his short hair and stared at the TV for a moment before he looked back at her. Her lips curled up.

“Okay, so, I know I probably shouldn’t have helped myself to your food,” In her opinion she was kind of entitled to it with the circumstances he’d placed them in, right? “And I know it’s sometimes just a _guy_ thing.” She looked down and licked her lip thoughtfully before she looked back at him. “But what I’m concerned about is… why was it in the _kitchen_?”

By now Toad had leaned forward to place his elbows on his knees again and had both hands cupped over his nose and mouth in embarrassment. He pulled his hands down his face till his fingers were touching his chin. Looking back she just smiled at him like a child who’d just found where her mother hid all the Christmas presents.

“I really,” He paused, seeming to think better of what he was about to say. “There’s an explanation.”

Dahlia cocked an eyebrow at him.

“When I…...When you…” He put his hands out in front of him like he was going to explain something, but found himself speechless. Oh, she was having fun with this. She spooned another mouthful into her mouth. “It’s ended up there, and…” He looked back to her with her wicked little smile and he took a deep breath, thankful she’d made a game out of this instead of being disgusted by him. It left him feeling embarrassed yes, but not so mortified. Maybe she wouldn't have him for it after all. “You’re enjoyin’ this.”

“I like watching you squirm,” Dahlia swayed side to side in her seat, happily eating her cereal. “What other dirty, embarrassing secrets do you have?”

“I’m not tellin’ you. You’d bring ‘em up every chance you had.”

“Oh, I’d milk it for everything its worth.”

He gaped at her for a moment, “You are unbelievably evil under all that innocence.”

Dahlia wiggled her eyebrows at him playfully. “The evilest.”

He shook his head and looked back at the TV. As embarrassed as he was about her finding _that_ he was relieved with the manner that she talked to him in. Like nothing had happened at all…No dirty magazine...no walking out. Maybe that was just the way it should go. He really hoped so.

From the kitchen counter his disposable cell phone started beeping out a tune and he jumped up to answer it.

_James._ He thought, _damn it._

He flipped the phone open.

“ ‘Ello?”

“Toad! Man! Where the hell’d you go last night? I thought you were going to meet me back by the car, you had the fucking keys. I had to hotwire the damn thing myself.

Toad put his hand over the ear piece quickly and closed the door to his room behind him. He didn’t want to risk Dahlia over hearing.

“Somethin’ came up,” Toad replied shortly.

“Like fuck it did. What’s so important you skipped out on twenty grand?”

“ _Something. Came. Up.”_   He lowered his voice even more, venom dripping off every word.

“Find man, whatever. When are you coming to get your share?”

_Silence._

“Hello?”

“Yeh,” Toad took a deep breath and held it. “I’ll come when I can.”

Jamie snorted on the other end. “Don’t wait too long, it might be gone.”

“Yeah, whatever.” He flipped the phone shut and walked back out into the room.

Dahlia looked up from trying to pick the last bits of cereal from the bowl.

“Everything okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, nothing t’worry ‘bout.”

* * *

 

_A Few Days Later_

Okay, I know what you're thinking; the whole running into Dahlia was a huge coincidence, right? Well, Toad thought so too, something didn't sit right with him about it.

After all, what are the chances of running into someone you've been looking for in the middle of the night and it just so happens they're helpless and need you to sweep them off their feet (literally) and take them back to your apartment? Yeah, the chances are slim.

Of course Toad knew Dahlia was just the person that might happen to, who knew what kind of thing she would get herself into next. The thought worried him. Plus he didn't want to fire up his already paranoid nature and cause himself to do something stupid. _Again_.

He stood in line at the little junkie store down the road from him. It was a rundown place with the windows and door barred up and the floor looking like it was in need of a good replacement. They didn't have much to offer, basics. Junk food, eggs, milk, some canned foods and ramen, a cheap section of Valentine’s Day things across from the toilet paper, soap and shampoo.

He shifted his body weight uneasily while the cashier lady spent too long counting the lady with the screaming toddler's change. Staring down at the dirty tile he noting the old gum stuck to the floor in the shape of a smilie face.

He thought about glaring at the child to make it shut up but then thought it would probably make the child cry louder. He played with the idea of spitting slime over the kid’s mouth just to make it shut up but he knew it wasn't a serious thought, he wasn't that cruel, specially not to a kid, not after what he went through. The poor kid probably just wanted some attention anyway, he could understand that.

_Bloody cunt,_ he thought, watching the way the mother ignored her toddler with angry expression on her face, talking on the phone. The toddler was reaching out to her babbling incoherently. It obviously just wanted to be held or you know, at least acknowledged for that matter.

He found himself glaring at the woman with hatred, he'd watched her ignore the kid the whole damn time she walked the store rather she talked on the phone or not.

"Hold on," she told her phone and pulled it away from her ear, grabbing the child's arm roughly and yanked him closer to her. " _Shut. Up. Shut. Up_ before I _slap_  you. You think anyone wants to hear your whining? They don't. So shut up before I beat you. _You hear me_? **Do** you _hear_ me?"

The toddler shrunk back in his seat and tried in a failed attempt of desperation to stifle his cries. Toad glared at the snot that ran down the poor boy's face and watched him look out into the store with his quietly stifled sobs and teary, red eyes; he didn't reach out to his mom anymore. Hatred welled up in Toad's chest, watching her walk out.

Toad set his carry basket in front of the cashier and watched as she pulled things out and scanned them boredly. Her eyes were the usual stoner high red and she reeked of weed and cigarettes.

With a sniffle she raised an eyebrow at the pink teddy bear and box of chocolates she pulled out and glanced up at him. Toad glared at her, daring her to say. He honestly hated the holiday but he wanted to be prepared incase Dahlia was still around by then. Plus, he kind of figured he should at least get her something that wasn't stolen.

His face burned though when she rang up the soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. Even if _he_ wasn't going to use them, she might, right?

The rest of the things were just various foods. Coke instead of beer; he had originally picked up beer but didn't want her to think he was some sort of alcoholic and ended up putting it back. More Oreos, she seemed to like those. The normal: chips, ramen, eggs, some Rolos. He thought he remembered her saying she liked those when they were in the tunnels, the Rolos, he couldn't remember.

"37.98." The lady told him and waited for the cash. He fished it out his pocket and put it on the counter for her, lifting his head a bit from under his hood.

She stared blankly at him and he felt his mouth twitch. She could sort of see the fact he had greenish yellow skin and black eyes different from normal humans but she was either too stoned to realize or too stoned to care.

"Have a nice day," she droned as he got his bags.

"Thanks,”

When he got outside he saw the same woman and her child, still chattering on to her friend. She sat on the bench at the bus stop while her child sat on the cement playing with what appeared to be somebody's long since dirty, discarded pair of sunglasses with a forlorn expression on his face.

Before he really knew what he was doing his tongue snatched the phone from her ear and she screamed grabbing her child protectively. He smashed it underfoot with one stomp.

"Take care of y'fuckin' kid, sod." He spat viciously, walking on by.

At his apartment he set his groceries on the kitchen counter and looked out into the relatively clean living room. He'd given into Dahlia's pleads of going back to the tunnels the next day when she spent a good bit of effort trying to convince him they would only love him for saving her again.

She'd been wrong, of course. He got the bloody cold shoulder from everyone there. It didn't help that she shared the damn room with Jinx who threw bitch comments at him the whole time and he couldn't do anything in case it ruined his chances with Dahlia.

It looked like Dahlia would heal relatively soon, it'd almost been a week since she gotten the twist but Betsy was taking good care of her.

He had stopped in everyday just to show them he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon like last time and planned on going again tomorrow night.

He picked up his cell and flipped it open to dial Jamie’s number. First of course, he didn’t want to lose his obviously _very_ hard earned money.

* * *

 _Later That Night_.

The first thing that always hit Toad when he walked into the dimly lit tunnels was the smell: the musky, bold smell of wet, molding cement. After having been gone for so long the smell always left him feeling disgusted, almost like he might even bathe when he got home, but it also left him hopeful that if Dahlia could live with this then maybe she could take him not bathing.

That, of course, hadn’t stopped him from showering before he headed over. He scratched at the already irritated skin on his back with a growl of frustration, he hadn’t even used soap and it was already messing with him.

Leaning against the cement wall he moved his body side to side in attempt to get a better scratch before he went find Dahlia. Betsy rounded a corner and cleared her throat. He flinched and froze, staring at the old women, always somewhat scared of what she might try to do to him. Not that it was like he couldn’t take her if she tried anything, he just, well, you know, had a reputation to keep up.

“Mortimer.” She sent an icy glare his way. “Come to see Dahlia?”

He tensed at the use of his name; he knew she only did it out of spite now.

“I ‘ave,”

She nodded her head. “Follow me,”

Following after her he scowled at the back of her head. She insisted on guiding him around the tunnels ever since he’d come back, obviously all trust of him she once had, lost. It irritated him, and to top things off she always sat around with him and Dahlia till she was called away with something else. He hated it, like they were children that had to be watched.

When they got to Dahlia’s room she was laid back in her bed with the book _The Republic_ by Plato held over her face. She glanced up as they ended the room, pulling herself up into a sitting position with bright eyes.

“Mortimer!” She beamed,

“Hello, love.” He shifted uncomfortably beside Betsy and Dahlia looked to her displeased face with what might have been embarrassment, he couldn’t tell.

“Hi, Betsy.”

Betsy looked to Dahlia like an unhappy mother. “Artie needs me,” She turned her nose and walked out with folded arms. Dahlia frowned and watched her friend go. Toad took a seat on Jinx’s bed uneasily, noting that some of her things appeared to have gone missing.

“Jinx’s been gone a lot,” Dahlia said, seeing him look around her bed. “I think she’s met someone.”

“Why’d you think somethin’ like that?” He asked, turning his attention back to her.

Dahlia just shrugged. “She’s in a good mood, her stuff’s been disappearing…I think she’s moving out.”

He had to fake a frown, thrilled at the news. The woman had done something to him before he left a few nights ago, he’d been on his way out when the world swayed slightly and he caught sight of her down the tunnel from him, a smirk on her face.

You normally hear about not being able to get it up, but after that for the whole night, he couldn’t get it down.

“That’s too bad,”

Dahlia sent a slight glare at him, his tone giving him away. He nodded at her ankle to divert her attention, not that was hard to do.

“How’s it doin’?”

She moved her ankle with a slight wince. “It’s getting better. Betsy said I should be able to walk in a few days, the swellings gone down a lot.”

“Ah, see, it’s those regenerative hormones. Aren’t I smart?” He tapped a finger to his temple and she smiled.

“Very, thank you.”

“Thank you? Tha’s all?” He asked, leaning forward with elbows on his knees. “Let’s have it, ‘You were right, Morty.’ “

She cocked her head to the side, looking at him funny.

“Morty?” She asked.

“Wot? Y’don’t like it?” His lips pulled up into a smirk. “Thought it had a nice ring to it,”

She laughed, leaning back on her elbows, book face down on her stomach.

“What a change, you didn’t even like people to call you Mortimer.”

“Yeh, still don’t like it.” He slid down to the floor to sit beside her, thankful Betsy was gone. “You can call me it, no one else.”

Dahlia watched him for a moment with a smile.

“I like it,” She said after a pause, “it’s a good name.”

“Ah, is that so?”

She nodded. “Maybe I’ll even name my son that one day.”

He looked up at her sideways from pulling at a frayed end of her blanket.

“You’d name your son, after a scary, green man?”

“Well, I don’t think you’re so scary,” She said matter-of-factly, turning her nose up.

“Is _that_ so?” He asked like he didn’t believe her. He had the thought to try and scare her, but deciding not to step on shaky ground.

“Tsk,” She glowered at him, “Don’t humor me like that. Stop being so British!”

He laughed at this.

“ _Terribly_ sorry, I’ll try to be more _American_ for you next visit.”

She only rolled her eyes.

“What you readin’?” He asked, pulling the book from her stomach.

"Hey! Don't lose my place!" She protested, "It's The Republic by Plato.”

“What’s it ‘bout?”

Dahlia shrugged, her tail visibly twitching side to side from under the blanket. “Justice an' stuff,”

“An’ stuff?” He raised an eyebrow.

She closed her eyes and nodded, lying back down. “Lots of stuff.”

“Whot kind of stuff?”

“People in caves, lines of reasoning and thought, the ‘Form of Good’.” She rolled over onto her side and held her arms out for the book like a child.

“Ah,” He said, handing her the book back. “Brilliant description.”

“Isn’t it?” She asked, dog-earing her place in the book with a yawn.

He left not long after, seeing she was getting tired even though she protested when he stood up. Betsy took the chance to pop in before she fell asleep. Dahlia opened her eyes at Betsy with dread when she came in. Watching her click the lantern on, Dahlia sat up uneasily.

“Why is he still coming around here?” She hissed, looking at her coldly. Dahlia shrunk back from her expression; with her heart pounding her cheeks flushed red at Betsy’s anger.

“He’s visiting me,” She said quietly, looking down at her blanket. "He's just worried."

“Dahlia,” Betsy took a seat across from her, “You need to be more careful. You don’t know who this man is, or what he wants or where he’s come from. In the tunnels, when he woke up, that was one thing. We were here to protect you, out there, we won’t be.”

Dahlia pouted and glared at her blanket a bit. “You’ve let me out with him before. You trusted him.”

“Yes, and that was _my_ mistake. We’re lucky he didn’t do anything to you,”

“He wouldn’t do anything to me!” She protested, turning a challenaging look to Betsy. Heartache hit her though when she saw the look Betsy gave her, like she felt sorry for her. 

“I want you to tell him not to come back,”

“No!” Dahlia straightened up, taken back. “He’s done nothing!”

“How can you _say_ that?”

“He saved me!”

“Dahlia, how did he know to find you on that roof?”

Dahlia fell silent…Was she implying Toad arranged for her to get hurt?

“He’s not a bad person. He doesn’t do bad things like you think he does. He doesn’t hurt people, he wouldn’t hurt me. He’s just MISUNDERSTOOD!”  She shouted, turning redder with realization of how young she sounded.

Betsy just observed her intently, shaking her head slightly.

“You’re naïve, Dahlia, you are so naïve.”

And with that, she left the room, leaving Dahlia with clenched fist and even more determination to prove her wrong.

* * *

 

_Back To Work_

Dahlia skipped happily through the foyer towards the room where professor taught Physics, happy to have her ankle back and cherishing every moment of it and perhaps, that she had visited Toad early that morning.

“Good afternoon, professor!” She chimed as she whisked past him and scooped up the book she used to tutor. She never brought them back with her for obvious reasons.

The professor smiled warmly at her.

“Dahlia, hello. I trust you’ve had a full recovery?”

“Mhm,” Dahlia nodded her head and leaned side to side. She stuck her foot out to move her ankle in a circle.

“Good! I’m very glad to hear it.”

She tilted her head to the side with ears pricked and waited for him to question her about the men she’d told him about over the phone, but he didn’t. Instead he just smiled at her warmly and they gazed at each other for a few moments too long till Dahlia’s eyes darted away awkwardly and she moved her ankle around again. Professor looked away slowly and wheeled himself around to his desk.

“Please, enjoy your lessons today. You might want to focus on dynamical equations particularly hard with John today…he seems to be struggling with it.” He said with his fatherly tone, though something about the encounter left Dahlia feeling strange. She brushed the feeling off with a happy bob of her head.

“Will do! Thank you, professor!” She smiled and ducked out of the room a bit too quickly. Walking down the hall she gave herself a quick shake and the reminder not to drink so much coffee before work. Since she had money she’d taken to abusing Starbucks.

* * *

John furrowed his eyebrows at his book with some frustration. Beside him Dahlia sat writing something on a sheet of paper, the scribbling sound only irritating him more.

“Do you have to write so loudly?” He snapped and she sat up straighter, face turning red.

“Sorry, I’ll try to write quieter.” She said, writing slower this time while he went back to his book. The end of her pencil tapped her lips thoughtfully and she looked to John with sympathy. “John…finding underlying dynamical equations in _any_ bit of data is hard…professor understands that.”

John only glared at his book harder and flipped the page. He’d been doing poorly this whole semester but this chapter was taking the cake, he didn’t doubt he would fail his next test, he just really didn’t want to retake the whole damn class.

“You’re doing well enough…” She tried to encourage him. Pressing her lips together, she tried to hide the sadness she felt for him; he played the tough guy repeatedly but she had the feeling he hid his insecurities under that, so many people did.

She lifted her gaze to Kurt and his student, Pixie, who sat a table away from them studying from a book of German poems he always seemed to be teaching out of. Angling her ears so she could hear better, she listened to Pixie slowly try to form the word she saw.

“Sh….sh..schöne…mi..” She looked up at Kurt quizzically.

“Mädchen,” He said softly, glancing up at Dahlia as if he felt her watchful gaze. He smiled softly and she smiled back briefly before looking back to her paper.

“What does it mean?” She heard Pixie ask and looked back up to them, listening closely.

“It means…” He trailed off hesitantly. “ ‘beautiful girl’…” He said quietly, turning his eyes back up to Dahlia slowly with a small smile, delighted at the way Dahlia’s smile grew.

John flipped his lighter open and closed again, him and Pixie looking from Dahlia to Kurt with a cocked eyebrow. John cleared his throat and Dahlia jumped, seeming to snap out of whatever world she’d gotten lost in.

“Sorry,” She flushed red, “Let’s start with Dynamicism.”

* * *

Dahlia stepped out of the steaming shower of the Xavier mansion and wiped a hand over the mirror to clear it of fog. Her tail swayed side to side happily as thoughts of Toad and Kurt filled her mind. Her life honestly couldn't be going any better at this point. She had some great friends all around, even if she wasn't completely sure where Toad stood on the friend scale at the moment.

She grinned at herself in the mirror. Reaching up she touched her sharp eye teeth and frowned a bit. Turning her face side to side she took in how much thinner her face looked compared to normal. She backed up to look at the rest of her body, thinning.

It wasn't like she hadn't been eating lately, if anything her appetite was larger than normal. She thought back to earlier that evening.

She sat with Rogue, Kitty, and Jean watching the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy on TV. A plate of three corn dogs, some mustard, a hot pocket and donut sat in her lap. Scott walked in to join them, taking one look at her plate he said: "Aren't you worried you'll get--". He stopped suddenly, immediately earning glares from all three of the women. "Never mind," He'd said quickly, making a fast escape.

_Wasn't_ she scared she would get fat though? She ran a thumb over the hip bone that was slowly becoming more visible. No, if anything she was worried with how thin she was becoming and she should take advantage of food while she could. What if she had tapeworms or something though?

"I don't have tapeworms." She told herself with a shake of her head, she couldn't believe of ridiculous she was sometimes. Pulling on her clothes shequickly dried her hair and made her way to Kitty and Rogue's room. Pushing the door open quietly to find Kitty typing away on her computer and Rogue fast asleep, kitty looked up in surprise.

"Dahlia! I thought you left like, forever ago." She ran a hand through her hair. "It's almost midnight. I think Scott already went to bed."

Dahlia only shrugged, stuffing some of her things in the bag she kept in the empty closet that had unspokenly become hers.

"It's okay, the bus stop isn't so far from here."

"I don't know, Dahlia..." Kitty looked at her uncertainly from her computer. "Why not just stay the night? The bus stop is like, a thirty minute walk from where and it's creepy this time of night."

"Don't worry about me! I gotta go now if I'm going to catch it." She slung her bag over her shoulder with a smileand rushed out the room. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Kitty's lips pulled down in a small frown. "Okay...if you say so, see you."

 

* * *

Dahlia pushed the front door open, keys jingling in hand to lock the doors when she spotted Logan leaning against his motorcycle, trying to light a cigar.

"Bout time," He inhaled deeply and blew the smoke out into the cold air. "let's go."

Dahlia blinked at the man in confusion. "You didn't have to wait up for me, I'm okay, I can walk."

Logan flicked the end of his cigar to the ground before putting it back in his mouth and straddled his bike.

"Look kid, chuck wanted me to take you to your part of town so that’s what I’m doing, okay? Let's go."

Dahlia observed him carefully for a moment and he tossed a helmet at her. Snatching it out the air and she looked at it cautiously; she'd never been on a motorcycle before. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, she climbed onto his bike and secured her tail tightly around her leg from under her skirt.

“Ever been on a bike before?” He asked.

Dahlia felt her stomach turn uneasily, she didn’t like the way his voice sounded. She decided to lie just in case he was going to try and mess with her for it.

“Yes,” She piped, face turning red, her voice a few pitches too high.

“Good…Then you won’t mind if I speed a bit,” He revved the bike and took off. Dahlia shrieked, clinging to him for dear life.


	12. Chapter 12

Logan cracked his neck, going down the road at a shocking speed, Dahlia screaming at every sharp turn.

"Kid," he shouted over the wind and her scream. "Kid!"

"What?!" She shouted back.

"Easy on the claws, will you? That's a new jacket."

Dahlia realized with a small gasp that she'd dug her claws past his jacket and into his skin.

"SLOW DOWN!"

"What's that??" He shouted back with a smirk.

"I SAID: SLOW DOWN!" She shouted again.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't hear you over the wind." He chuckled, watching the road in front of him.

"STOP THIS MOTORCYCLE RIGHT NOW!"

"What's that?"

"LOGAN!!!" She slapped his shoulder, already healed.

"Oh, slow down?" He asked, slowing down now that she'd probably lost three lives to heart attacks.

Dahlia sat trying to calm herself, slapping a hand over her mouth quickly when her body threatened to throw up.

Logan chuckled. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Dahlia growled and slapped his shoulder again.

"We're going to have to work on those arms," he told her. "You hit like a girl."

"Let me down right now!"

"Sorry, no can do."

"RIGHT. NOW." She shouted. "I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL JUMP OFF."

"Go for it, if you want to be road kill.”

"You mean like the cat you ran over back there?!" She snapped, her voice more than a few pitches too high.

Logan snorted. "I didn't even hit it."

"You did too!"

Logan shrugged. "Tomatoes, tamatoes." He came to the bus stop not far from where Scott worked.

"Let me off here!" She snapped. How he never got a speeding ticket was beyond her, maybe he did and professor had some sort of connections, she highly doubted Professor would cover for him though. This behavior was unacceptable!

Logan, finally giving into her and deciding they were close enough to her drop off spot, came to a stop. Dahlia, very much in a hurry to get away, fell off the bike and got tangled up in her long skirt. Eventually she managed to stand up straight though, shoulders raised high with dignity.

"Thank you," she said with a deep breath, arms straight down at her sides with fists clutched. "The bus should be here any minute now."

Logan laughed and shook his head.

"Not your first time on a bike my ass."

“Ugh!” She stomped her foot furiously but her face dropped as he turned his bike around to leave. “Hey wait a minute, where are you going?”

“Back to the school, you said the bus gets here soon, so why not?”

Dahlia turned her head to look down the desolate street and a shiver ran up her spine. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“What, you scared? Weren’t you the one going to walk to the bus stop in the first place?”

“Well, yeah, but not _this_ bus stop.”

“Somethin’ wrong with this one?”

Dahlia’s lip pulled back uncertainly. “Well no, I guess not.”

“Alright then, later kid. Oh and,” He paused to smile and revved up his bike. “You’re welcome for the ride.”

Dahlia gave him a dirty look as he sped off, leaving her to stand in wait for the bus. In the distance she could hear the faint sound of a car alarm going off and someone shouting, but she shifted her weight to stretch her ankle, the commotion must have been at least a couple blocks away. She exhaled deeply, watching her breath fog up in front of her and rubbed her hands together. Soon the bus pulled up, coming to stop with a hiss and she climbed aboard, slipping a few coins into the meter and taking a seat in the back.

She watched the scenery pass by quickly with her head rested against the cool glass. In all honesty all she wanted to do was go back to Toad’s place and cuddle up on his sofa (Not with him specifically though, she wasn’t ready to admit that.) and watch some old reruns with him and eat all of his food.

The thought of facing Betsy again left her with dread. Of course Betsy would think she had been with Toad this whole time, it was the only solid cover up for her job that Dahlia could think of, it had seemed like the perfect cover up at the time. She groaned, not so much anymore though. She thought back to their argument and felt her cheeks burn with how immature she’d managed to come off as.

She sat up suddenly though with determination and glared at the back of the bus driver’s head. She was a _grown_ ass woman and she was going to be friends with whoever the _hell_ she wanted! Forget Betsy’s disappointment, it wasn’t like she was her _mother_ or anything.

“I am a grown butt woman,” She repeated her thoughts aloud. “And I will be friends with whoever the **heck**  want!”

The bus driver looked up at her in his rear view mirror and shook his head slightly, pulling the bus to a stop to let another person on. Dahlia, too wrapped up in repeating her new found motto of confidence, paid no mind to him as he slid into a seat in the back.

When the bus came to another stop Dahlia hopped up and waved to the driver happily before heading down the stairs.

“Have a nice day!” She called back to him, even though it was night time.

The driver rolled his eyes, closing the bus doors and shifting it into drive.

“Crazy bitch…” He muttered.

The wind blew violently against Dahlia’s face but she held her head band in place. So what if Betsy didn’t think Toad was a good guy?! She probably just didn’t think he was good enough for her was all, but it wasn’t her place to decide or even worry about those things! Dahlia had a job now and friends and was well on her way to becoming an _X-man_ for godsake! Before she knew it she would be able to kick some serious butt!

_Crunch_.

Dahlia whipped around, eyes wide, searching the vacant street behind her. Nothing moved aside from an empty soda can that shook slightly, as if someone had just stepped on it. Her stomach filled itself to the brim with nervousness and she wrapped her jacket around her tighter, much more aware of the quiet darkness that surrounded her now. She ducked her head and hurried back to the tunnels quickly.

Once inside she pushed back the curtain to her room and fell into her bed with a deep exhale, exhausted. So much going on lately, she turned over to look at Jinx’s things to find that they were gone, all of them. Dahlia sat up with a blink, then pouted.

_I guess she really was moving out._ She thought.

* * *

Toad’s fingers tapped nervously on the armrest of his sofa. He glanced at the clock above the TV, she was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. Outside the window the sky was bright in a gloomy way that seemed to dominate the winter season with a thick layer of clouds that had hid the sun for a majority of the week. Thankfully though, things appeared to be warming up.

His knee shook nervously and he wrung his hands together, what if something had happened to her? He was starting to regret having her come to his apartment on this side of town; he should have had her meet him somewhere. Even though she had been doing it for a few weeks now it still left him nervous when she didn’t show up when she said she would. She was normally always on time.

He was about to go look for her himself when someone knocked at his door and he jumped up to open it. A very bright Dahlia twirled in, holding a small box of chocolates.

“Happppyyyy Valentines dayyyy~!” She chimed, coming to a stop in her twirl and holding it out to him. Professor had given her the day off but she had still stopped by earlier in the morning to give chocolates to her friends. Scott, Jean, Professor, Kurt, Kitty and Rogue, etc, she did want them to know she was thankful for all they did after all. Toad was no different.

But still, a smile spread across his face as he took the gift, she got him something. He’d never gotten much from anyone before expect for maybe some soap as a cruel kind of joke from his teammates. The joke had been starting to get old.

“Y’ got me somethin’,”

“Yup!” She said, walking in pulling her head band and of course, shoes off. “It’s the least I could do since I’ve been eating all your food here.” She shook out her hair and turned to smile at him. “I heard The Princess Bride comes on tonight, if you want to watch that?”

“Was thinkin’ maybe we could do somethin’ else.” He said, setting her gift on the kitchen counter. She tilted her head with ears pricked in curiosity.

“Something else? What you mean?” She watched him hurriedly duck into his bedroom, closing the door before Mittens could get out. The cat meowed an angry protest when he pushed her back coming out with her teddy bear and box of chocolates.

Her face lit up, only Kurt had given her something so far, a handmade card with the poem he’d been helping Pixie read. Sketched out around the card had been a poorly done scenery of a meadow while one side of the card held the poem in German and the other side was the English version. It’d really made her day, she was so glad she’d found such wonderful friends in these last few months.

“Oooh! You didn’t have to do that!” She exclaimed when he handed them to her, but judging by the wide grin that revealed sharp, white eyeteeth, he knew he’d made the right choice.

“I wanted too,” He told her, watching her pull the teddy bear to her chest happily then she threw her arms around him, causing him to stumble slightly before he hugged her back.

“You’re the best friend ever!” She said, then peered into the box of chocolates. “These are my favorite kind! I haven’t had these since I left home! Dad used to always get them for me. He’d get me and mom something every year. Oh! What was it that you wanted to do today?” She asked, plopping herself down on the sofa and sticking a raspberry dark chocolate truffle into her mouth to suck on.

“Was thinkin’ we could maybe get somethin’ to eat,” He said hesitantly, opening what she’d given him to try one since she was. She looked at him quizzically, still sucking on her truffle. “Like pick up somethin’ to eat, y’know?” He added quickly, seeing her confusion. She knew he didn’t like to go out in public often. He searched her face for approval, delighted to see her nod her head eagerly.

 “That sounds like a good idea, won’t most places be super busy though?”

He shrugged and chewed a piece of chocolate slowly and swallowed before he answered, he was trying to get in the habit of that.

“I know some place, kind of a hole in the wall, but it’s good.”  He told her, “But I thought, we could pick it up. I wanted to take y’somewhere.”

She laid back against the armrest of the sofa and put her feet in his lap, pulling another chocolate to suck on.

“Take me where?”

“Well, you’ll find out, won’t you now?”

She smiled even though this was all starting to sound an awful lot like a date. “I guess I will.”

* * *

 

Toad shifted from foot to foot outside the back of Ooishi’s sushi, a tiny sushi shop a few blocks from his home, the sky already darkening overhead. He tried to remind himself as he checked his watch that Dahlia looked perfectly happy to sit up on a crate beside him and that nobody was bothering them but they had been waiting next to an hour now and it was starting to get to him. He didn’t want to be late for what he’d planned; if they were late it could ruin it and he wanted so badly for everything to be perfect for her. He was determined to show her that he wasn’t worthless.

“You okay?” Dahlia asked, realizing he hadn’t been listening to what she was telling him, though she looked more concerned than anything. He seemed restless. “I can go in and check on it?”

“No,” He said with a firmness that made Dahlia’s ears prick in slight alarm. He regretted it immediately, watching her check that her headband hadn’t come off from the movement; she seemed to do that a lot lately since those men chased her.

“No,” He softened his voice this time, “I’ll do it.”

Dahlia’s eyes followed him as he went in through the back door and blinked. Weren’t customers not allowed in the back? She shrugged and looked back down at her freshly painted nails. He must know the people. Her head jerked up at the sound of a short shriek though and slipped off the crate, about to go in when Toad pushed his way out past her quickly, carrying a bag with their food

“What was that?” She asked curiously, trying to keep up with his pace. What was his hurry?

“Onna the employees,” He said, not looking back to her. “She saw a rat.”

“Oh,” She said absent-mindedly, wondering if she wanted to eat from a place that had rats but then reminded herself of all the times she’d eaten out of dumpsters and shrugged the thought off.

She followed after him quietly through a series of alleys and side roads, lost in thought. He’d gotten their food so quickly wondered; it must have just been done. He came to a sudden stop in front of a fire escape and with his tongue, pulled the ladder down. It left her thinking how many things he used his tongue for. He must have been able to do a lot of things with it……Her mind started to trail off into places she wasn’t sure she wanted to be, head tilting far to one side and eyes squinting a bit. A lot of things….Huh.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and felt heat spread across her face.

“Y’comin?” He asked, looking down at her. He was already half way up and she wondered briefly why he didn’t just scale the wall if he wanted to get to the top, but then remembered she was in a skirt and thought maybe that had something to do with it. Damn these skirts, she really needed to wear them less, they made climbing difficult. He squinted at her face in the light coming from over the door beside her. “What’s wrong with your face? S’all red.”

“Nothing!” She said defensively and started climbing up after him, leaving him to stare at her quizzically, wondering if he insulted her.

“Well okay then, come on.”

“I really need to stop wearing these skirts…” She complained as he helped pull her up onto the roof. “It always gets in the way.” She watched him smirk and pursed her lips. “What?” She asked.

“You could just take it off,” He told her and she slapped his arm with a grin. “No!”

“Why not? S’not that cold. You’d manage.”

“Because I’m not—“ She fumbled over her words, face turning redder than earlier. He stopped to look at her.

“Not what?” He tilted his head with his smirk.

“Because…I am not…” She looked away. “Into not wearing skirts.” She said finally.

“Y’ don’t have any knickers on, do you?” He started laughing when her jaw dropped open and she slapped his arm again and her voice rose three octaves too high.

“I do!”

“Well then, prove it.”

She slapped his arm again. “What did you want to show me!?”

He chuckled and led her over to the opposite edge of the building, throwing his legs over the edge when he took a seat. He watched her hair be blown to the side gently by the wind as she walked over and looked down into the basketball court where various chairs were set up and a projector was pointed at a large white square painted on the wall.

She eased down next to him, studying the scene curiously.

“What is this?” She asked.

A soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips as her pupils expanded in interest, lately they appeared more and more cat like; he loved it. He gave a short shrug, keeping his smile.

“Found it a bit ago, before m’accident.” He thought back to the night he’d first found it. It had been on one particularly awful night when nobody had been in a good mood and any attempt he made to socialize with Mystique or Sabertooth had been mercilessly thwarted. After wandering around the city aimlessly he found this and decided to kill time.

He just didn’t realize how much he’d like the event. The movies they played were always these old foreign romance movies in black and white. And, as much as he hated to admit it, he really enjoyed them, even if they didn’t always have subtitles. “They show movies e’ery Friday.”

“I see…” She said softly, thoughtfully. Below them people were starting to show up and take their seats. “Mortimer?” She asked, and he looked up from pulling their to-go boxes from the bag, waiting expectantly for her to keep talking.

“What happened?” She asked, looking at him with a tilt of her head. “I mean, with your accident that is.”

He stopped to think about it moment, turning to look down at the people below him. He could feel her eyes fixed on him expectantly, innocently.

“Got mixed up in somethin’ I probably shouldn’t ‘ave,” He said it before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth and tensed up. Dahlia just tilted her head a tad to the opposite side and he watched her hair fall with the tilt, swaying slightly with the soft breeze. He waited for her to pry farther, but she didn’t.

“I see,” She told him, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, like she understood completely. Maybe she did, but he couldn’t ever imagine her getting into anything less that prime.

She wasn’t like him, he thought with some bitterness. She had a normal childhood, and had gone to a normal school, and had lived with a normal family in a normal apartment on a normal street preparing for her successful, normal life.

How she had turned out so well after all that happened to her was beyond him. So bright and naïve, still believing there was still good in the world, somehow managing to care about what seemed to be everyone…They were so different, he wished he could bridge that gap. How could he hide and pretend he was better than her?

Thinking back over his life and namely his choices, what was he doing? Going in circles with his life? Mutants needed to be fought for, but why did it seem like he never got anywhere? He’d been in many “groups” before, always fighting for the “greater good” of mutants, and where did that get him? Alone, electrocuted, and tossed into the bay where nobody but her had cared enough about his life to save him. Did he even ever make a difference?

Was he ever happy there? With Magneto? Doing things he wasn’t proud of to accomplish what Magneto thought was best and trying desperately hard to earn Magneto’s approval and fake-fatherly affection, something that had never happened. He was always chastised more than praised, if he was ever really praised to begin with, every praise Magneto handed him followed by a comment strategically stitched to wear him down all over again.

Was he happy here? He took the moment to look Dahlia over with her tiny frame and large brown eyes watching the movies played below them. Opening her mouth wide in a determined attempt to get her piece of sushi in, he felt himself smile, watching her fail terribly with bits of rice and tempura shrimp fall into her lap. She put a hand over her mouth and looked to him with a giggle, eyes shining. Yeah, he was happy here.

“This is really good,” She said muffled through a mouthful with her hand still over her mouth. "I know they're really generic next to the California roll,” She paused to swallow. “But I love crunchy rolls."

He nodded his head, picking up the last of the California roll to leave the crunchy roll to her. “They are good,” He agreed.

On the “screen” below them a man wearing a tuxedo brushed a strand of hair back from a woman’s face and murmured sweetly to her in French. As much as he had been lost in his thoughts he hadn’t been paying attention to the movie but it looked as if it were coming to a close. Dahlia pointed down at the ground to a woman with dark, wavy hair that fell to her waist.

“I’ve always wanted hair like that,” She mused. “Mom would never let me dye my hair.”

“I like your hair,” He told her, closing up one of the empty to-go boxes and slipping it into the bag. Dahlia dropped her chopsticks in when he held it open for her. “It suits you.”

She sent him a sour expression and it took him a moment to reason why.

“ Wha’? I didn’t mean it cause you’re blond.”

She paused and then gave him a sourer look. “And what is the correlation between me and being blond that I might consider a bad thing?”

He gaped stupidly for a moment then she smiled.

“Careful,” she told him, “It’s a trap.”

He closed his mouth and stared at her.

“Two things I’ve learned ‘bout you,” He said helping her up off the ground. “One, you’re stubborn. Two, you’re evil.”

“I am _not_ stubborn.”

“Would you look at that, bein’ stubborn again.”

Dahlia scoffed.

“Well…” She pressed her lips together trying to think of a comeback. “You’re sticky!”

“Whot?” He looked at her with a smile that one might give a little girl. “Like rubber an’ glue? I stick to walls, s’what I’m s’posed to do.”

“No! Like a lollypop! That’s-that’s been,” she fumbled for words again. “sucked on!” She slapped her hands over her mouth immediately, mortified.

He got a funny smirk on his face and cocked his head to the side.

“Sucked on, that so?” He chuckled. “Tha’s a new one. Funny, can’t say that’s ever ‘appened to me, love.” Pausing at the ladder to help her down he grinned. “I think somethin’s wrong with y’face, s’all red again.”

“Ugh!” She slapped his arm again before moving to climb down the fire escape.

“You sure you don’t want me to go down first?” He asked with a humorous gleam in his eyes. “Make sure you don’t fall or anythin’.”

She glowered up at him. “No!”

“Why? Since y’got your knickers on and what not, s’pose it wouldn’t be a problem?”

“Mortimeerrr!” She warned and he chuckled, sticking to the wall and crawled down half way before jumping the rest of the way.

“Jump!” He told her.

“What?! No!”

“Come on, I’ll catch you!”

“Nooooo!” She whined. Her eyes went wide when he jumped onto the wall beside her and pulled her to him with an arm around her waist. “MORTIMER!” She shouted, then shrieked when he jumped down.

* * *

 

“You just can’t do something like that!” Dahlia said angrily, pacing in front of the sofa Toad sat on. “What were you thinking?! They could of called the police on you!”

He held his head down, leaned forward with knee shaking nervously, wringing his hands together. He didn’t think when he’d done it, it just sort of happened. He cursed himself and wished desperately he could fix this. She was so angry, he’d never seen her like this. It scared him.

Some bloody bloke with his hammered, underage friends sat outside of his bloody apartment complex on their way in. Looking back he didn’t even suspect they were any real harm, but he’d learned from his time in the orphanage and being homeless not to take shit from people by reflex. They spotted Dahlia first of course, and called her over for a drink, then…they spotted him.

“Girl! Ditch that guy, c-*hic*-coommmme ooonn,” The apparent teenaged leader staggered up to them despite their obvious attempt to hurry past. The boy laughed loudly. “Heyyy, freakk.”

Toad tensed, feeling a hand slap down on his shoulder, weak and unsteady. Before he knew what he was doing he practically broke the boy’s arm. Twisting it around and slamming him face first into the wall, no doubt breaking his nose. He couldn’t see Dahlia at the time, but hearing that small gasp from her, he got the notion it scared her.

It was true she saw him like this with someone before. But that particular someone had been trying to hurt her and had not, in fact, been a boy barely out of his teens faced against a much larger man with the benefit of mutant abilities. Not that Toad _used_ any of his abilities against the boy, force was enough.

Dahlia had flung her arms around his neck before he could shove the boy’s face into the wall again.

“Stop!”

He let the boy go immediately and watched him with hatred as Dahlia ran to the boy’s side and made sure he would be okay before she snatched Toad’s hand quickly and started pulling him inside away from the situation.

“What were you thinking?!”

He recalled her voice with a pang of remorse, an easy thing to do considering she kept saying it. He hadn’t been thinking. But you couldn’t always afford to think. He didn’t expect her to really grasp that concept though, not the way she grew up.

He ran a hand through his hair and tried to take a deep breath to slow his heartbeat. Shame burned his face, he could feel it. He didn’t know what to do with this. He could hear her still talking. Still Angry. Angry at Him. His rushing mind and sense of dread stopped him from seeing the reason behind the anger, however.

She had been scared but, she had been scared _for_ him, not of him. Scared for the boy too, of course, but mostly for him. She didn’t want something to happen and those boys to call the police then the police would try to take Toad away and Toad was a mutant so it didn’t take a genius to know they would be brutal with him.

He glanced up at her briefly then averted his eyes with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Staring out the window at the darkened sky he hoped desperately that the boy would get what he deserved for putting him in this situation. Though deep down he knew this whole thing was honestly his fault. It didn’t keep him from hating the kid.

His knee kept shaking. And she kept going.

“You know what they would of done with you if the police got to you?!” She said, eyebrows turned up in concern, too lost in her rant to catch the nervous look on his face. “I don’t even know what they do to mutant criminals but it can’t be good! You see hear the police stories don’t you?! They beat that poor mutant girl half to death a few months ago! And that poor boy! You broke his nose!  What were you _thinking_? I just can’t—“

“I’m sorry,” He said faintly, weakly, with eyes on the floor and a look that suggested he were a child scolded. Had she not had the hearing abilities she did, she might not have heard him.

Dahlia’s heart melted and her look softened. All the anger she had deflated and she moved to sit beside him quickly.

“Noo, it’s okay.” She cooed and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you hurt.”

He tensed momentarily at the sudden movement, then tears stung his eyes. Moving his arms hesitantly to return the hug, she kissed his cheek quickly then pulled back to look at him. Her face softened farther.

“Are you okay?” She asked gently, arms still around his neck. She reached up to brush a tear off his cheek. “You’re crying…”

“Yeh, I’m fine.” He rubbed his eyes quickly. “Got somethin’ in m’eyes.” He mumbled and Dahlia smiled at him, sinking into the sofa under his arm in hope to give some comfort.

“Can I stay?” She asked, taking his hand and pressing her finger tips to his, studying the way their hands fit together. “It’s too cold to go home tonight.”

“Yeh, that’s fine.” He told her…trying to recompose himself. He watched closely as she studied their hands. Relief washed over him and he breathed out slowly the fear that had been building up in him. The warmth of her care beside him threatened to seep into all the cold abandonment his life left him with, threatening to heal it.

It might have been true that Dahlia couldn’t understand the world from the perspective that he did, that they were very different and had come from opposite sides of life. It might have been true that Dahlia couldn’t understand the extent of resentment he had for the people who hurt him. And, it might have been true that she was too naïve to understand the things he’d done and still did.

But, despite all that, if anything was true that she did understand, it was this: She understood what he needed. She cared about him enough to offer up the affection he desperately needed and she offered it freely. First she’d given to him the chance to live and had taken care of him for months, and now, even though he’d taken from her and run off, she was giving to him again even though it was the last thing she should have been doing.

She shouldn’t have been with him, but here she was anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

"You're crazy, chuck, if you think I'm just going to sit back and let some creep pick off one'a our own. Who knows what that creeps planning on doing with her." Logan growled, both hands pressed firmly on the Professor's desk. Behind him Storm leaned against the bookshelf with arms crossed, looking no happier than Logan.

"Logan please, hear me out." Charles pinched the spot between his eyes. "I know what I've seen and I believe we can win him over with Dahlia, if I had the slightest inclination to believe she was in any harm at all I would put a stop to it. An inside eye would be incredibly beneficial right now."

Logan snorted a humorless laugh and turned away from his desk with a shake of his head, leaving Charles to steeple his fingers in thought.

Perhaps he should have gone to Dahlia first, but he couldn’t possibly keep such an important matter secret from Storm and Logan, not when so much was at risk. Not to mention Dahlia needed specialized training and Logan was the best man for the job. He had to think carefully about how he went about this.

"Logan, I know what you’re thinking but Dahlia is a very bright girl despite what she may seem. And Toad, well…” The professor glanced down at the battered file on his desk in front of him; one entitled _Mortimer Toynbee._ “I’ve been inside his mind more than once. I know what he’s seeking and seeing him with Dahlia…” He trailed off and Logan and Storm studied the professor moment before exchanging a glance. The professor continued.

“He feels incredibly alone and is on a quest for…security, if you may; acceptance...What he's lacked in childhood, despite his behavior now, he's still seeking. I don’t like to snoop through someone’s mind against their knowledge but after I first met Dahlia and caught a glimpse of the matter…Well, I couldn’t ignore it. At first I thought that was the end of it, but now it appears Dahlia has managed to position herself close to him. I believe he trusts her; he wouldn’t let her so close if he didn’t. I highly believe that if we had gotten to him before Magneto did…well, perhaps he never would have even taken to the side he did.”

"But, that's just the thing, professor.” Storm pushed herself up from the bookshelf to walk closer to the two who had been dominating the conversation since she first stepped in. “We _didn’t_ get to him before Magneto did. He chose the side he's on, and he’s been rather enthusiastic in living it, wouldn’t you agree? He wanted to _destroy_ the _human_ race. As you know from the fight at Liberty Island…Scott, Jean… _me_...I almost killed him. I honestly thought I had. And well, my point is that even if he takes to Dahlia there is a slim possibility that he’ll take to the X-men. You've told me yourself, he hates humans. He doesn’t want equality, he wants mutants to rule. That's not what we want, and that's not what Dahlia wants.”

“Please, have a little faith in me, Storm. I do plan to continue monitoring the situation closely but Mystique is planning something and I believe one of the first things she's going to try to do is reach out to previously trusted allies, one of which undoubtedly is Toad. If we have an inside view...Well then, perhaps we can put a stop to this before it begins.”

"If she's planning something then why not just take her out here and now?" Logan looked at the Professor steadily.

"Because Logan, the work she's doing with the public now..." He shook his head, flipping through the file. "If we were to expose her suddenly it would set back all of the work Hank and all of us has been working to accomplish. It would devastating for our kind."

Storm seemed to ponder this, eyes scanning the carpet at her feet. By no means did she believe this was a good idea but she trusted the professor enough to, at the very least, consider it. Professor let the two sit in silence. He knew that his idea was a questionable one; he had faith in Dahlia’s ability to win him over. If all went as planned, this could be exactly what they needed to keep an eye on the mutant-extremist. After being abandoned by Magneto and Mystique, what he assumed had happened when Dahlia found him, he had a feeling this might be their only chance.

“So…what?” Storm said finally, “What do you expect we do if she doesn’t take the news the way you hope? What if she’s scared of him and doesn’t want to follow through with the plan?”

Professor smiled politely and tapped a finger to his temple.

“You forget who has a bird’s eye view into her mind, Storm. I believe Dahlia will cooperate with us, regardless of how she feels on the mission. Of course, I believe she’ll be in need of some extra training…” He trailed off to look at Logan.

“This is stupid.” Logan grunted with crossed arms. “Forget it.”

Storm watched him leave with furrowed eyebrows, biting her lip. Outside the wind rustled the trees roughly, announcing the coming rain.

“I don’t know about this professor…”

* * *

Dahlia hurried down the side walk trying to beat the cold rain before it started. A rush of wind slapped her in the face and her hands went to her headband uneasily. A small gasp escaped her mouth when a raindrop landed on her nose and she looked up to the black sky as rain started to fall. The wind howled and newspapers tumbled down the side walk as she ducked under the nearest cover, giving a vicious whine as the rain started to pour.

With a huff she leaned against the window and folded her arms. Who knew how long she would be here now. Looking around at the scenery before her she caught glimpse of a figure shrouded in shadows standing outside of a narrow alley way. Dahlia stared at him fixedly and he appeared to stare back. Hands shoved into pockets and shoulders hunched up against the wind. He turned and disappeared into the dark alley silently, sending a shiver up her spine.

She really wanted to get to Mortimer’s as soon as she could.

* * *

 

_“Kurt?” Dahlia asked the blue man as they sat at the kitchen table feasting on some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Dahlia thought he had been so kind to insist on making when she offered._

_“Yes, Liebchen?”_

_“What do you think about humans?” She picked at her sandwich thoughtfully for a moment before looking back up to him with pressed lips. He paused slightly, wondering where the question had come up from._

_“Vhat do you mean? Ve are humans.”_

_“Yes, but I mean, non-mutant humans.” She said and pulled off a bit of the crust from her sandwich. Had she been the one to make these she thought cheese would have gone wonderfully with it…maybe grilled it too._

_Though really what was on her mind was the conversation she had with Mortimer a while back…Where he had said humans thought they were better than them…but it was the opposite. She kicked her feet back and forth thoughtfully under the table like a child, barefooted once again._

_Humans…_ sapiens _he had called them though she thought that he appeared to be avoiding the conversation anytime she mentioned something having to do with…erm…sapiens. She shuddered; she didn’t like that word much._

_“Are ve not as human as they?” He asked, a small smile pulling back his lips at her childish tone. She always seemed to sound like a little girl; he had heard her curse once and it sounded entirely wrong coming out of her._

_“Well, yes, but I mean…” She furrowed her eyebrows in thought and picked another piece of crust from her sandwich. She never did like crust. “Do you think they think they’re better than us?”_

_“Many people consider themselves higher than others…mutant or not. And many people consider themselves lower than others…also mutant or not.”_

_“I was just thinking…” Her lip pulled back at the corner. “Because I can’t go to school because of…sapiens and…” She paused, wondering if it were proper or not to use the term sapiens when referring to a particular…She furrowed her eyebrows farther…”breed” of people. Was “breed” an appropriate word too? She pushed the thoughts from her mind to continue. “If I can’t go to school because…well, obvious reasons…wouldn’t it mean that they thought they’re better than us? I think they’re just afraid.”_

_“People are always afraid of vhat they do not understand…” He said softly, dropping his eyes down to the bits of crust on her plate. Dahlia stopped picking at her sandwich to smile at him._

_“That’s exactly what I think,” She said. “I just…Why do you think people think they’re better than others?”_

_“Vhen people feel they are inadequate…they often seek to be above those that cause such feelings.”_

_“So if someone were to say they thought mutants were better than humans…Then, they feel inadequate?”_

_Kurt nodded. “Perhaps…Vhy is this on your mind?”_

Dahlia curled up in the corner of Toad’s sofa sleepily and found she was dozing in and out as she thought back to her chat with Kurt; it seemed like they spent more and more time together lately, she could easily call him one of her best friends.

She parted her lips in a tired yawn. The days were starting to appear too long and the nights too short, always feeling sleepy when she shouldn’t. Toad slept on the opposite side of the sofa, head tilted back with mouth open and an arm thrown over the armrest.

She stretched her arms over her head and arched her back, flexing her fingers till claws came out. The clock blinked nine PM back at her lazily and she wondered when they had fallen asleep, it couldn’t have been that long ago.

She’d gotten there from work around seven after she decided to suck it up and run through the rain. Of course, she’d ended up soaked and now she sat in one of his oversized shirts without any pants, probably way more comfortable than she should have been. They had ordered pizza and must have fallen asleep during an episode of Friends.

They tended to do that a lot. Bringing her knees up to her chest and curling her tail around her toes she stared down at her shiny red nails with dismay and flexed her toes trying to get her claws out. They never did seem to listen to her quite like the set on her hands.

“Inadequate…” She said quietly to no one in particular, thinking back to what Kurt had said. She shook her hair out and reached for her now hair tie only to have it pop in her hand when she tried to tie her hair up.

She sighed and angled one ear to listen to the hum of the fridge behind her and the other to the murmur of the TV in front. With eyes dully glossed over and half closed she turned to study him while he slept. Her fingers fiddling softly with the necklace he gave her.

She really didn’t know much about him did she? She didn’t want to believe it, but aside from a vague memory of him telling her about the orphanage and streets…then another vague answer about his accident…what did she know? At the time she hadn’t wanted to push him, everyone had things they weren’t proud of but…

She rolled her eyes; she was letting Betsy get to her.

Thinking back to the other night watching TV, she recalled the way his fingers had traced a scar on her knee repeatedly and she had chosen to ignore it. Repeatedly she tried to deny that he wanted to be more than just friends, but she was finding it increasingly difficult.

She groaned softly and pushed herself off the sofa to clean up the empty box of pizza sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

It was in the way he jokingly pleaded with her to stay over longer or in the probing questions about when she was coming back and where she was going masked by friendly concern. It was in the way he looked at her when he thought she couldn’t see; when her eyes were fixed on the TV in the dark room watching a movie and he sat beside her.

She closed her eyes again hoping to sleep but her skin crawled with restlessness. Outside a pigeon cooed continuously like it had every night that week. Tonight was just one of the many nights recently that he’d managed to talk her into staying.

Heaving a bag of trash over her shoulder she snuck out the front door and stuffed the bag into the trash shoot with a hard shove before going wipe down the counters. Mittens pawed at his closed bedroom door, causing Toad to stir from his spot on the sofa slightly. Dahlia’s ears pricked, listening to the movement. She wandered over hesitantly to see if he was awake. He wasn’t.

Eyes darted around in his sleep and he flinched slightly. Sadness swelled in her stomach for a reason she couldn’t quite place and she brushed her finger tips down his arm softly, watching his face relax.

 _Why am I naïve to her?_ Dahlia mused, thinking of Betsy. _Do I have to know everything about someone to care for them?_

She pressed her tongue against the cut she’d gotten from accidently biting her cheek earlier. It wasn’t like she didn’t see it was generally a red flag that someone vanishes after you sleep with them, she wasn’t stupid. Her pupils narrowed into slits at the bird cooing in the window with agitation and took to re-organizing his utensil drawer. Really? It looked like he just tossed all his spoons and forks into it. She rolled her eyes.

But, what if it wasn’t really a red flag at all? What if what Kurt said, corresponded with him leaving in the first place? What if he had just been scared? She had tried to come up with multiple excuses for him, but this one seemed to pull a chord in her she wasn’t sure she was ready to acknowledge.

She turned her head to look at his sleeping figure in the living room, then sighed in frustration at the way her ears amplified the cooing; it was particularly bad tonight.

She didn’t want to worry about so much though. Everyone worried. Since leaving her home her mind had been nothing but worries.

Trying to push her brooding thoughts from her night she walked over to the window and slid it open with more force than was necessary. The pigeon flew upward quickly and she watched it disappear over the edge of the roof, running a tongue over her sharp eyetooth. She would just figure things out later.

* * *

 

Toad awoke slowly, looking around the empty living room with drowsy confusion. The curtains were blowing back into the living room from the open window, letting in the cold, humid air. He got up to peer outside the window; looking up he had just enough time to see Dahlia’s tail disappearing over the edge of the roof. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and pulled himself out the window and up onto the wall.

Reaching the top, he crouched on the edge of the roof to watch her shadowy figure down on all fours stalking forward to what appeared to be one of the damned pigeons that always cooed outside his window day and night. It perched up on top of the Roof turbine contently, unaware of the danger behind it.

With her ears and tail and—as he was starting to notice with concern—increasingly thinning body, both an eerie and adoring feeling settled over him; a cat stalking her prey.

The bird caught wind of her and fluttered up frantically but with a single leap, clawed hands out reached, Dahlia pulled the bird out of the air and pinned in to the ground with tail swaying excitedly behind her. He smiled slightly, starting to stand out of his crouch when Dahlia tensed, her head snapping up. And, for what seemed like a moment too long, she watched him with caution.

“Somethin’ wrong, kitten?” He asked and she seemed to relax a bit, though getting closer he could see her pupils still narrowed into animal like slits. She looked down slowly to the mangled body of the bird pinned under her hands and then back to him as he crouched in front of her. Brushing her cheek with his thumb, he studied her face closely with apprehension.

“Y’okay, pet?” He asked again when she didn't respond.

 “...I killed it…” She said quietly, not unlike a child, her expression wide eyed and distant. Slowly coming back, her pupils expanded and eyebrows turned up with remorse. “I didn’t mean to…”

He looked at her softly, cupping her cold, bloody hands in his to warm them.

“S’okay,” He said gently, “Let’s go inside and warm you up, okay?”

She nodded hesitantly but as he led her to the roof’s exit door he couldn’t help glancing back at the outline of the twisted body lying in a heap in the dark. He was unsure of what to think, but if there was anything he knew for sure, it was that Dahlia wasn’t a killer.

* * *

 

 

**_Jamie Madrox’s Apartment a Few Days Later._ **

 

"I mean, it won’t be for a while, but we need to get in here. This is what I wanted to talk to you about," Jamie said, jabbing his finger at a spot on the map of a building beside Toad; the TV behind them murmuring softly about car sales. “We need you to disarm the security system, but that can only be done from the security room."

"An jus'ow do you expect me to get in there?" Toad retorted, looking up from the gadget he was trying to fix that Jamie had managed to break earlier in the day when he so carelessly _dropped_ _it._ The thought passed through Toad’s mind and he glared at the man, still bitter about his broken toy and wanting to get home to see Dahlia.

"Simple. That my friend," He got a grin on his face, ignoring Toad’s obvious irritation, since it seemed to coat everything he did lately regardless. "Is where the art of seduction comes in. Babe, you can come out now!”

Toad glowered at Jamie for a moment, wondering what the hell he had in store for him now. He knew Jamie’s girlfriend had been living with him the last week but he’d never actually seen her. Following Jamie’s triumphed smile to his bedroom door and out stepped a familiar face. They gawked at each other for a moment with hatred.

 _Jinx_.

Toad simply gestured at her, "I'm not workin' wit' that."

Jinx scoffed and turned to leave. “I didn’t know it was _him_.”

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He caught her arm and pulled her back. "What's the story here?"

"She's a slag. That's the story." Toad said and Jinx’s mouth fell open with insult.

"Just because my mutation is _seduction_ , _does not_ mean I'm a _slut_."

"Wasn't referin' to your mutation." Toad replied dryly, looking down at his gadget again. "Was referin' to all of you."

Jinx pulled back with an insulted scoff. Jamie moved quickly to put an arm around her before she could try to try to leave again.

“Hey. Look, I don’t care what the situation is here guys,” Jamie paused and looked between the two, slightly afraid of what he might find out about his girlfriend. “Old lovers?”

“No!” They both snapped in unison, equally appalled. Jinx looked like she might back hand him and pushed his arm from her to try to leave again and Jamie moved to block the door way.

“Do you guys want to succeed in this thing or not??” He snapped and they both fell quiet with the expression of a child who’d been scolded. “ _Well?”_ He probed farther when they wouldn’t respond.

They muttered their agreement, refusing to look at him.

“Then put on your big girl panties and deal with each other!” He moved to pull a bottle of wine from his fridge. “Now, who’s up for some drinks?”

Toad gave a passive grunt and Jinx wandered off into the bed room to wait for him to leave so she really could backhand her annoying boyfriend. What the hell was he dragging her into?

 


	14. Chapter 14

Betsy watched her breath fog up in front of her as she waited patiently in the alley she hoped Dahlia would pass on the way home so she could grasp her into her safety. She had watched the grey skies overhead, once bleak with the new cold front slowly turn into the darkness that they were now. 

Kneeling down in the shadows and she glanced at the watch on her scaled wrist, eight. Rolling her shoulders back she tried to ease the tension building in them from the long, uneasy wait hiding in the shadows of the alley. Risking her life, really. Betsy snorted with irritation and pulled her hoodie farther over her head.

Damn it to hell. Where was that girl? No doubt still with that blotchy, scarred, green prick of a man. She regretted with every ounce of her soul that she hadn’t demanded the man’s address from her…and out of her own anger at that. She would never forgive herself if she didn’t catch Dahlia before she got home.

A mixture of grief and anxiety sat heavily on her chest and shoulders as she thought of her adoptive daughter. Scales spread farther across her skin in her body’s natural response to stress causing her to inhale deeply. A stained duffle bag sat in front of her on the hard ground and she pressed her lips together in remembrance of when she had first taken Dahlia in.

That girl…always getting herself into trouble. She shook her head as her lip started to quiver and she cupped a hand over her mouth. Who knows how many weeks she had been on the streets before that. Skinny, bruised, dirty, wounded and sick. Terribly, terribly sick.   
Staying up with her for three nights straight as her body fought whatever terrible virus had decided to plague her with. She thought about holding her hair back from her face as she threw up into a bucket, shaking violently from a fever that at the time Betsy could do nothing about. All the while telling her it was okay, trying to give her the hope and comfort she needed to survive.

Nursing Dahlia back to health was no easy task. Trying to put meat back on her bones was like trying to fill a cup with a hole in it. In the weeks that followed Betsy was amazed she had survived at all. 

Betsy pulled her glasses off to wipe the fog from them and sighed heavily. In a way, Dahlia was just as much her daughter as the girls she had at home. Just as she had given her daughter’s life, she had given Dahlia her life back.

\---

Dahlia scampered down the bus steps quickly and looked at her watch. Eight forty-five. Damn the bus driver for being so behind schedule! Already an hour late, though that was partially her fault for leaving work so late. Mortimer was probably sitting at home off his rocker with worry by now. (She learned that phrase from him and she was pretty proud of it.)

She rushed down the street pulling her hoodie up against the cold wind that swept violently down the street. As if this weather wasn’t bad enough! God forbid things couldn’t just warm up for once. The past few weeks it was a mixture of rainy and raising temperatures but now it was somehow back to freezing. The weather was as unpredictable as her mother.

Her body ached to get up on the roof tops and have a clear cut path to Mortimer’s free of the sketchy people that were starting to surface on the streets at this time. The wind kept her on the ground though and deep down inside she knew it were way too risky to do something like that. She could get hurt. She shook her head. Restlessness continuously flowed in her veins, causing her to tear her palm as claws dug their ways in.

A hand reached out from an alley as she passed by, hooking her shirt and cupping a rough hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.

\---

Toad’s breathed into his frozen hands as he paused in his jumping from building to building, peering down into alleys. Damn it, where was that bloody girl? The darkening sky forced him to quicken his pace. What if something happened to her? Ten tiny knives attached to her hands and she was still the weakest mutant he’d known, useless in battle. 

\---

Dahlia was flung to the cement in the center of a group of men with wicked eyes. Her mind tried to process everything as quickly as she could, the sneers, the baseball bats, the prideful taunts. There was no doubt these were some of the anti-mutant extremist she had encountered only weeks ago. 

Scrambling to her feet she was shoved into the trashcans that sat against the wall, slamming her skull into the brick and sending her to the ground once again. Tears clouded her vision as she grasped at the pain that shot intensely through her head, staring wide eyed up at the man approaching her.

“Not going anywhere this time, are you sweetheart?” He sneered, sending his foot into her side and kicking her over. 

She wailed out a cry and somebody grabbed her by the hair and drug her away from the wall before sending a bat slamming down into her arm. She cried out in pain as it came down again and she curled up to block her head but a moment too late as the bat slammed down into the side of her face.

Ringing engulfed her hearing and her vision blurred as pain erupted through her body. She could just make out the glimpse of a familiar figure and long tongue wrapping around the neck of one of her many attackers. Struggling to see straight she pulled herself away from the men and hoped Toad would be able to manage on his own but before she could make it away she was grabbed by the hair and dragged around the back of a building away from the fight.

Panic and rage flooded out of Toad as he took on the multitude of men attacking Dahlia. Where was she? Where was she?! He looked around frantically, getting nailed square in the face. He spat slime at the man’s face and watched him frantically claw at the quickly hardening goo as it suffocated him slowly. Three of the other men lay on the ground, with badly broken bones or a snapped neck. The remaining three men watched as their friend stumbled back and fall to the ground with his fingers bloody from broken nails desperately trying to save his life.

Toad turned his fury to them and they froze like dear in the head lights. Toad’s attention snapped to the clicking of a gun from shaky hands off to the side and before the man could react Toad’s tongue had wrapped around the man’s wrist and flung him clean over the top of the building. He pulls his tongue back in and sauntered menacingly towards the remaining men who scattered. With the remaining men gone he called out to Dahlia.

“Dahlia!”

He listened, just barely able to make out the sound of a shuttered breath and he ran towards the back of the building, expecting the worse.  
The first thing that hit him was the stench of blood that filled the air, the next was the pool of blood that was slowly reaching out its scarlet hands to stain his shoes.

Dahlia’s eye that hadn’t swollen shut stared up at Toad in terror with animalistic pupils; blood matted in her hair and on her hands. What would she could she do now? This was it. She messed up and there was no going back from this; nobody who could help her, no body that could fix this for her. Her life…everything she had worked so hard for…it was over.

She turned her gaze down slowly to the blood on her shirt and to the mangled body of the man in front of her. Tears welled up and streamed down her face and she turned her childish gaze to Mortimer.

“I killed him…” She said quietly, a shuddered cry escaping her mouth. “I didn’t mean to…”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted. Anyway, this story is more active on Fanfiction.net under Kitteh4137 so feel free to look there for the better edited version.  
> Thank you for your reading :) hope you enjoy.

The stench of blood overwhelmed, almost exhilarated Dahlia’s senses, causing her muscles to tense and pupils to narrow as if she were still in front of the man’s mangled body. Her conflicting emotions spiked her pulse; images of his torn throat overtaking her vision. She shook her head in a desperate attempt to make them leave, to regain the strands of humanity she desperately clung to. 

All of her senses set on edge as she sat on the sink’s counter in Mortimer’s bathroom staring vacantly ahead of her. She could sense him moving frantically in the apartment; his heart beating twice as fast as usual, breathing unsteadily, the stench of sweat surfacing on his already pungent skin. Beside her, water from the tub roared in her ears violently, as if she were standing at the base of a waterfall.

Dahlia flinched; the sound of a trashcan being kicked over just outside the door and its contents spilling out onto the floor was followed by Toad’s angry footsteps into the bathroom. Her head snapped up from his feet to his face in a heart beat, pupils no bigger than tiny slits.

“Bloody sapiens, they are; to hell with them.” Toad muttered in such a low, angry manner, spitting each word out as if it were poison that if her hearing hadn’t been as acutely tuned as it was, would never have even heard. 

She knew by his stiffly controlled movements that he was trying his hardest not to spook her more than she already was. Every now and then, a shiver would pass up her spine and images of the man’s eyes rolling back into his head, images of blood and torn flesh, would fill her brain, but emptied out as quickly as they came.

He ran a rag under the faucet beside her quickly and gently began wiping the splattered blood from her bruised cheeks, all the while muttering profanities about the human race. Briefly she wondered if he were right. He rinsed the rag under the sink once more and wiped the blood from her neck and chest. 

Her eyes fell onto his, studying the greenish, black color of them and the concerned look they carried so intently she didn’t notice him pausing to meet her gaze. She lifted a hand and with one clawed finger, traced a faint electrical scar that traveled from his neck into his shirt.

He placed a hand on either side of her face and lowered his head onto her chest, breathing in slowly. 

“Humans are terrible creatures, love.” He said quietly, trying to keep his voice gentle and controlled. He cupped a hand behind her neck and resting his forehead to hers, meeting her gaze closely. “They hate us. They all hate us. You can’t trust any of ‘em. They know we’re the superior race and they’re going to do everything possible to kill us off and I’m begging you,” He took her hand and held it to his chest. 

“I’m begging you not to blame yourself, because I know you and I know you will. That man? He deserved what happened to him. They all deserved what happened to them. I regret that I didn’t kill every last one of them, because love, you aren’t going to be the last life they try to take.”

Dahlia’s tail that hung limply off the edge of the counter curled up around his leg and she brushed her finger tips under his chin, claw tips just barely felt. How right was he really? Everywhere she went she had to hide from humans…because they didn’t accept her, because they wanted to hurt her, because they didn’t want her species here…Because she was dangerous, because they were dangerous.

“We’re dangerous.” She said quietly, a small frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

“We’re superior.” 

She pulled back from his face suddenly and lifted her chin slightly, searching his eyes for something he wasn’t sure of… then, just as the moment began it ended and she cupped her hands behind his neck and pulled his lips to hers.

\----------------------------------------

Toad laid back on the sofa with Dahlia’s nude body fast asleep on his; his fingertips brushing up and down her spine lightly while he paid close attention to the slow rhythm of her breath. Three weeks ago Dahlia joined him with his title of murderer; a pang of sadness pierced his heart still when he thought of her lost innocent. No matter who you are or why you do it, protecting yourself or not, murder changes you. Taking a life however innocent or evil it is, it never leaves you the same. 

She’d barely left his side since the incident, clinging to him like a small child; it wasn’t something he had a problem with though. He liked her neediness; the way she reached out to him when bloody images woke her in the night, or the way she grasped onto his shirt timidly at a trip to the corner store when someone eyed her too closely.

It was also because of this however, that he hadn’t been to work since that night, something James wasn’t entirely happy about. While things were moving along with a new recruit here and there, they were still largely at a disadvantage without another experienced pair of hands around.

Part of him was okay with this. He imagined himself staying here, with their naked bodies sharing warmth under the blankets while the TV mumbled quietly on its lowest setting, and he felt content. He wasn’t driven to be superior or to take revenge on the people who caused him grief his whole life. He just wanted to be here, with her, warm and okay. 

He had a job to do though, a duty to the mutant race, a duty to Dahlia. Those people that hurt her were still out there. There would always be more of them and she would never be safe…not while mutants still bowed to the sapiens hand.

Anger burned in his chest and he took a deep breath to calm himself down before he disturbed her sleep but it was too late. Dahlia stirred, her ear twitching at the slight change in his breathing and she nosed her face closer into the crook in his neck before taking a deep breath and releasing it again as she fell back into unconsciousness.

He breathed out in relief and as he pulled the blanket closer up to her neck and wrapped his arms around her tighter, he made a decision.

Tomorrow. He would get back to work tomorrow. Anxiety swelled in his throat and he pressed his lips to her head in attempt to comfort himself. Rather or not Dahlia would insist on coming with him, he wasn’t sure…Then, rather or not she would accept what he did he was even more unsure.

Surely she would now that she’s seen the reality they were living in. The bruising around her eye still a clear reminder of how much man couldn’t be trusted. He thought of the way she clung to him and avoided the world outside now and he begged whatever higher power existed in this sick joke of an existence that tomorrow of all days he would have some sort of sound judgment and self-control to handle whatever came up.

He passed his fingers through her hair slowly, taking comfort in the soft strands of hair that passed over his callused hands.

“I’ll make sure of it…” He told her sleeping ears quietly, just barely a whisper. “No bodies ever going to hurt you again, love. I’ll never leave you.”

Her ear twitched and she nuzzled his neck again, this time grasping the blanket and pulling it up to her chin.

“You promise?” Her sleepy, quiet voice startled him slightly and he was quiet for a moment.

“Yea…I promise.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I've completely forgotten to add chapters up here (or maybe I did that on purpose? I don't remember). This story is mainly updated on Fanfiction.net though.

Dahlia fidgeted with the edge of her shirt as they walked down the street. She looked up, focused on the ominous sound of the street lamps buzzing as they awakened and bathed them in dim light. From ahead, Mortimer grasped her wrist and quickly pulled her forward with a roughness that caused a woman sitting outside her door to usher her children inside.

"C'mon, stay by me," he commanded.

Dahlia stumbled a bit and hurried after him as they entered the corner store. Flinching at the bell as they walked in, Dahlia locked eyes with the boy at the register for a moment too long. She jerked her head away and ducked into an aisle, not allowing herself time to see his eyes slide down her figure. She felt the low ache in her eyes as her pupils tried to narrow. The chips along the isle caused Dahlia to turn her head away in nausea. Nothing without protein even seemed remotely desirable these days.

Her fingers wrapped tightly around her forearm as she browsed, the tips of her claws burrowing into her skin nervously. She rounded the corner, stopping just to see Mortimer and relaxed a bit, as if seeing him were enough to ease her anxiety. Hushed laughter sounded from the register causing Dahlia to look up. The boy was joined by his friend, who nodded towards Mortimer standing in front of the condoms.

" _Who's he kidding?"_ One whispered to the other. They laughed. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger.

Mortimer's fist was clutched so tightly his greenish skin began to turn a hue of white and she felt a rush of guilt. He was only buying condoms because she had asked, several times, but he was doing it now. Embarrassment stained her cheeks but she walked up to Toad boldly regardless. It wasn't that she was embarrassed of him as much as she was embarrassed of having sex at all.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head to the side to see around his arm as she slipped her fingers into the rim of his pants, pleased to hear silence from the counter. From under her skirt the tip of her tail flicked playfully as she caught sight of the smug look Mortimer cast to the cashiers.

"The ultra-thin, let's get those."

* * *

Rain thrashed against the window of professor's office as he sat observing the weather. Elbow propped up on his armrest; he pinched the spot between his eyes recalling the previous conversation he'd had with Wolverine weeks ago now. Scott stood near the door, arms folded behind his back, waiting solemnly for his response. A little over a month and a half ago he received a text from Dahlia thanking him for his generosity but that she would no longer be going into work.

"It's not like Dahlia to vanish like that, I don't like it. We need to find her." Scott said, breaking the silence when Professor didn't respond.

"I'm not sure that will be the best approach to Dahlia, Scott." Professor turned his chair to face him. "I fear that will drive Dahlia farther away than she already is. I've already had this discussion with Logan."

"Yes, but that's _Logan_. I won't have the same effect on her that he will. She's never taken to Logan very well and I'm the one who _brought_ her here, I could bring her back. At least let me try to contact her; you left her phone service on for a reason, didn't you?"

Professor sighed quietly, running out of options. Was he wrong to let her stay with Mortimer? Perhaps this is their chance to pull her from a bad situation. He feared, though, that she may have already gotten herself in too deep.

* * *

Mortimer sat in the swivel chair with his hands behind his head, turning slowly one way then the other. James went through the list of mutant currently aiding them in their antics, attempting to find a rat for their latest project. Jinx sat behind James, laid back on the bed with a magazine in her lap.

"The real problem here is that whoever retrieves those files will most likely die or be taken into custody; it has to be someone that isn't valuable to the cause." James said, marking off yet another name on their already short list. He walked to the fridge to pull out a bottle of Mike's Hard lemonade and tossed one to Toad before bringing one to Jinx.

"Ye, but to retrieve those files means buildin' our army. What's one lost life for the cause? We don't 'ave Magneto's charisma to our benefit. Not every bloke on that list is special."

"If they aren't special it's because they just _suck_ for the job."

"Blob?" Mortimer's lips turned up humorously and James looked at him in exasperation.

"Yeah, cause I'm _real_ sure nobody will spot a five foot, ten inch, five hundred and ten pound man trying to squeeze through the damn halls."

Mortimer chuckled, taking a sip before checking his watch. He needed to go home soon, they weren't getting anywhere.

"How about you?" James nudged Jinx who frowned at being disturbed from her reading. "Morlock's?"

"Callisto is building her own army. She isn't interested in anything other than surviving."

"Then go out there and use your charm. That's a thing, right?" James threw an arm across her shoulders. "Seduce someone fit for the job and bring him back, you got that."

Jinx shrugged his arm off with a heavy sigh and made her way into the other room leaving James to brush it off.

"Women, I'll never understand them."

* * *

Two months felt like eternity after you kill a man but being with Mortimer eased something inside her. He was her drug and any time spent away from him felt like agony. He went to work often these days, always insisting it was good she spent some time on her own but it never felt like good. When he left he locked the door behind him, like an unspoken rule not to leave the house. He was be gone till the early hours of the morning some days, leaving her to fight her mind alone.

Outside the April rain poured so heavily on the complex and pounded so harshly against the window she was almost worried it would break in and take her. Sitting curled up in the corner of the sofa she looked back to check that the locks on the door were all in place and she stroked her feline friend's fur in hopes to have some relief.

She spent most her time in front of the TV that she didn't really watch, too afraid to lose herself in nightmares, too afraid to lose herself outside. Who else might she hurt? Who else might hurt her? Restlessness and tiredness surged through her at the same time, sparking anger that he had left her alone at all. She shook her head to clear her racing thoughts, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't think like that, he worked hard to support her now that she didn't have anything to bring to the table.

She both appreciated and despised the control he had obtained over her in the last few months. She wanted to run. But he kept her here. But she wanted to stay. But these walls closed in on her. He protected her.

Lightning flashed and she pushed herself off the sofa so quickly her tail knocked over a cup on the end table. Footsteps so light they didn't make a sound she closed herself into the backroom and locked the door, taking in her appearance in the mirror.

Her face had gained back some of the weight she'd unexplainably lost; it wasn't any wonder, Mortimer always shoved food at her rather she wanted it or not. She touched her cheek with clawed fingers and studied her narrowed pupils. Her hair fell just below her shoulders now in a damp mess. He didn't want her to cut it, despite her protests; he liked long hair.

_Ba-Ding_. A Text.

Her arm twitched and she looked at the cell phone lying on the bathroom floor from almost three days ago. She was surprised the professor hadn't canceled her service yet. Maybe it was just his way of continuing to be kind to her. Scott's name appeared on the screen and she cautiously opened his message. She never thought she would hear from him again, as if these walls were all the world had left to offer her.

_Hey Dahlia,_

_Would you like to eat with me and Jean at the New Bridge restaurant tomorrow night?_ _My treat, just wanted to talk. Would love to hear from you again._

_Scott_


	17. Chapter 17

"Damn it, Scott!" Professor slapped a coffee mug off the kitchen counter. It shattered against the large, stainless steel fridge violently. "I told you to let it be! Do you know what sort of position you've put me in?!"

"Dahlia is missing for almost two months and you're doing nothing, professor! This isn't like you or her and you're hiding something from us and I'm not okay with it." Scott threw his arms out at his sides, almost hitting Kitty in the face as she poked her head in through the kitchen entrance to see what the disturbance was.

"You're incredibly mistaken, Scott. Dahlia resigned on her own accord, she is not missing and I insisted that you leave these things up to me and the professors."

"Bullshit! Dahlia doesn't just quit with nothing, no explanation. If there's anything Dahlia's known from its her over-explanation of things and you know it!" Scott took a step closer to Xavier, who narrowed his eyes at the threatening approach to his personal space.

Scott had long waited till after professor had gone to bed before he sent the text reaching out to Dahlia, but…you don't get away with much with a mind reader in the house, I suppose.

Professor's unusually furious tone had brought the attention of many of the students to the halls just out of the kitchen, all eager to catch a sliver of gossip on the fight. Storm and Jean were just directing the students to a safer distance as I'm sure we're all aware of how fights in the mansion have previously turned out. The pair quickened their pace as Logan's menacing figured stalked into the kitchen.

Scott barely had time to flinch as Logan's hand flew out and shoved into Scott's chest, pushing him back into the wall behind him. His head hit the wall with a thud and Logan's face was inches from his.

"Cool it." The command solid, threatening, icy.

Scott's mouth twitched with aggression as he held back. Logan and Xavier fixed their gaze on him steadily and after a moment of silence passed, he knew he was out numbered. He slapped Logan's hand off his chest and shoved past him out the kitchen. Furious that not even Jean had sided with him on this.

Professor pinched the spot between his eyes and took a moment to regain himself. Logan crossed his arms and leaned back against the same wall he'd just shoved Scott into. Xavier looked at Logan's cocked eyebrow and flat expression with exasperation as if to say 'I told you so'.

"Follow him tonight, I fear for the turn out of this event. I fear we'll no longer have control over this issue by time the night is over, Logan."

"And Dahlia?" Logan asked, eyebrow still cocked.

"She shouldn't lose control…not unless directly threatened."

"Yeah well, let's hope it doesn't come to that, bub. That restaurants packed every day of the week."

"Please Logan, I don't need a reminder."

"That ol' lizard was wrong, we should have taken Dahlia back off the bat. Now look at the situation we're in. If Dahlia's mutation is as much a problem to the old bag as she says it is then we should have done somethin' sooner."

"Betsy was right, Logan. Dahlia's mutation is growing instable enough without the added stress of an unstable psyche. The goal was for Dahlia to have time to process what's happen to her before reaching out to her, something that could potentially trigger another break out if handled incorrectly. She's too attached to Mortimer to have that security ripped from her, to do that would end in us becoming the enemy, and that's not our intention."

Logan snorted, not convinced. He remembered the night Betsy had shown up asking for the "leader of the x-men". She stood in front of the large iron gates of the school at the voice box, staring up at the security camera with tattered and soaked clothing from the rain overhead.

She rung the bell twice and before anyone picked up in the dead of night and cleared her throat, licking her lips with the forked tongue of a snake.

"I have a request to speak to the leader of the X-men in regards to Dahlia."

She had been all profession and technical terms as she sat in the professor's office wrapped in an oversized beach towel. Logan observed her scaled hand that held a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea, skin peeled back from her arms and fingers as if fixing to shed her skin. Even among a household of freaks Logan couldn't help feeling uncomfortable in her presence.

The professor took to her quickly though, even offering her a place of safety upon finding out of the Morlock's intention to kill Dahlia should she ever be found. Betsy had refused however, saying her place was with the people of the Morlock's and she would never forgive herself if she abandoned the children forced to live there.

Betsy had come instead, to insure Dahlia's safety was with the X-men and that they would keep a watchful eye on her, informing them of the downward incline of Dahlia's progressively unstable mutation.

Her mouth set into a hard line, the corners threatening to turn down as Professor told her of Dahlia's recent events.

"It's out of my hands now… Xavier…if I may, I beg you to keep a watchful eye on Dahlia. I've taken care of her as long as I can but the tunnels are becoming too small for her…All children must leave home at some point but this isn't how I imagined it for her."

It was the Professor's promise that they would bring Dahlia back safely and he hoped that's what they would do.

"Can't you just stay home tonight?" Dahlia cringed inwardly at the desperation in her voice, unable to catch the question before it left her mouth. She regretted it immediately.

"No." Mortimer's tone was flat as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, shutting the door harder than he needed to before slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "We've already had this conversation." He cursed under his breath when he turned and his backpack knocked over a glass of coke that had been sitting out for the majority of the day. He knew he was the last person who should be complaining about cleanliness but he felt irritated that she hadn't cleaned up any of their dishes yet.

Sadness gripped at Dahlia's throat though, causing her to swallow hard and her tail to fall limply behind her. He'd gotten so much more comfortable in his anger towards her lately and she couldn't help but feel like a burden. Home constantly, no work to be done, no places to be. It both hurt and made her angry at the same time. She craved her independence back but at the same time was terrified of it, not trusting herself to take care of herself. It was part of the reason she had agreed to Scott and Jean's invitation tonight.

Mortimer tossed a couple paper towels over the spilled mess quickly but didn't bother wiping it up.

"You've been working so much lately…" Her voice fell quiet, soft; as if more to herself than him.

He paused to take in her deflated expression, one ear slightly tilted down and back. The hurt on her face made his stomach sink, as if he'd just scolded a puppy. But he just cupped his hands around her face and kissed her on the cheek softly.

"I'll be home in the mornin' love, al'right?" He waited for her to response. She didn't say anything, the corner of her mouth pulled back slightly. "Love?"

"…You'll be back in the morning." She said, smiling weekly, hands folded dejectedly in her lap. She didn't reach out in response to his touch as she would have usually done. He didn't seem to notice.

He smiled at her then and turned to leave. Dahlia's ears fell back in displeasure at the familiar lock of the door and her pupil's narrowed into slits at the spark of resentment she felt from the perceived abandonment. She pushed it down, he worked hard for them, she couldn't be like that.

Feeling abandoned and lonely she walked to the backroom, heart racing at the realization she would really have to go through with the walk by herself to the restaurant, her first time out alone in weeks. She stood on the tips of her toes, reaching into the top shelf of the closet to pull her maxi skirt and head wrap down. She had to do this for herself. For Them.

Less than a block from work, Mortimer's thoughts started to churn uneasily, his stomach sinking with the image of Dahlia's defeated expression stained into his mind. A slight panic slipped into his stomach at the thought of her abandonment. What if this caused her to leave? His heartrate spiked and he stopped walking for a moment. He shook his head. Nonsense, not in her condition.

Truthfully he knew he shouldn't take so much pleasure in her fear but it eased his mind to know how tethered her fear kept her to him.

He kept walking, trying to focus his mind on the deep blue of the dark sky, never completely black in the city. His thoughts were sinking though.

You're god awful, you know that? Filthy monster. It's any wonder she stays with you. She's going to leave you just like your parents.

"No." The word came out of his mouth involuntarily. Loud and steady enough that it startled a man passing him by.

Mortimer ducked his head further down and pulled his jacket up to hide his face more.

You're wrong. Dahlia loves me. That's why she stays.

Is that what you tell yourself? You've got her wrapped around your precious little finger. It won't be long before she finds out. You're a fraud. You don't care about her.

You're wrong. I do. You're wrong. He pressed his hands to the side of his head now, walking faster. He had to be to work tonight. Tonight was important. They were going to cover the full plan tonight.

You left her so sad. She hates you.

"Stop!" He stopped walking, turning on his heel to walk the other way, snatching a bouquet of flowers from a store display.

Scott pulled his lips pulled back into a smile as Dahlia approached him outside the restaurant. Immediately he knew something was wrong. She glanced nervously around in a way that was fearful, clutching her bag so tightly if her claws had come out they would pierce the leather.

"Hey Dahlia, how are you doing?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and she snapped her head back to him with wide eyes. She gaped at him with embarrassment and struggled to find the words to reply.

"I'm doing okay, I just haven't been out in a while. I'm sorry. How are you?"

"No, its fine, I understand. It gets dangerous out here sometimes."

She laughed quietly, if only he knew.

"I'm doing okay. It's good to see you." He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as they headed towards the door.

"Jean couldn't make it tonight?" Dahlia glanced around him in search for Jean.

"Oh uhm, no, she couldn't make it. A few of the students are in the infirmary with the flu." He grimaced at the lie as it left his mouth but really the last thing he wanted her to know was he wasn't supposed to be here, that the X-men forbid him from seeing her. If that didn't sound horrible, he didn't know what did.

The restaurant was bustling with energy and chatter as they took their seats. He had thankfully made a reservation for that night. They always seemed to be any day of the week. They sat in awkward silence in the middle of the restaurant though, surrounded by busy waiters and waitresses bustling around. Scott's suspicions that the professor was hiding something from him grew even more as Dahlia's wide eyes once again scanned her surroundings. She flinched at a waiter as he passed too closely.

Toad searched for his keys in his pocket clumsily, hands weak with anxiety and gripping his flowers too tightly.

"Love, I'm home." He called out into the apartment. Silence aside from the low murmur of the tellie greeted him. On the counter still laid the wet paper towels and empty bottle of beer. "I just thought, you were right, love."

His pulse quickened when silence answered him. His bag slipped from his hand and slumped to the floor along with the yellow daisies. "Dahlia?"

Rushing to the back he hoped that maybe she had gone to sleep but logically he knew that she would have heard his keys in the door, it would have woken her. It always did. Especially since that night she never really slept if he weren't there.

"Love?" His voice taut with anxiety. They found her. They found her and it was all his fault. He should never have left her! Or she left him and it was all his fault because he didn't pay enough attention. She was so sad. It was all his fault.

His pulse quickened as he threw the bathroom door open. Black eyes scanned the scene in front of him in confusion. A towel on the floor, steam on the window, a pallet of eye shadow sitting on the sink. His pace slowed and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Eyeshadow? Bloody hell fuckin' eyeshadow?

He turned and walked back out into the living room and scanned the room with blood rushing in his ears. The wet paper towels, the overflowing trash and dirty dishes, the scattered newspaper on the coffee table, the usual station on the TV. His heart sunk, the window open just a crack, almost unnoticeable. The window screeched its protest as he slid it open. The warm air of spring caressed his face as he looked down. Hands shaking, he reached down to pick up the pink cellphone that lay helplessly on the small balcony.

To Scott Summers: See you in a few!

His foot crushed her cell effortlessly. Slamming the window up violently, the window frame to cracked around it. He jumped, leaving the curtains to blow back into the empty apartment with the night's breeze.

Xavier's limo rolled up slowly and came to a stop across the street. Logan squinted, searching for Dahlia and Scott in the busy restaurant. He snorted, frustrated by the constant body of people passing by the window.

"It's busy as hell in there," Logan said just as his eyes landed on Dahlia and Scott in the middle of the busy restaurant. "A lot of innocent lives in there…Shame if something'd happen to 'em."

Professor's mouth set in a displeased line at what Logan was suggesting. "There is a chance Mortimer may not even be aware of this encounter, Logan. We're only here for caution."

Logan reached into his pocket, pulling out a half smoked cigar and his lighter. Smoke escaped from his nose as he exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on the scene in front of him. He looked back at Xavier, feeling the heat of his stare on his neck. He took the cigar from his mouth.

"Don't think braidin' hair'll be a whole lotta help tonight, bub." He cocked an eyebrow though rolled the window down and exhaled out the window this time. Movement caught the corner of his eye as he turned his face away from the window. His eyes snapped back, body rigid as he sniffed the air. "We've got trouble."

The glass front of the restaurant shattered as Toad jumped through the window. In an instant bodies were up and running, people screaming at the hideous green mutant in front of them. His black eyes furrowed with hatred as he scanned the crowd. A brave security guard, barely above drinking age stood shaking from behind him.

"F-FREEZE MUTANT! I'LL SHOOT."

Toad's head snapped towards the guard and within an instant his tongue wrapped around the man's hands so tightly his fingers curled out and he dropped the gun, then was flung across the restaurant. His body landed on a table with the sickly crack of wood breaking.

The force of Cyclops's attack shot Toad backwards out into the streets where he landed at Wolverine's feet. Logan flicked the end of his cigar onto his face, then unsheathed his claws and dove down for Mortimer. Mortimer rolled away almost an instant too late, kicking Logan backwards into the window of the building across from them.

Back on his feet Toad jumped at Cyclops as he stepped out the shattered window and knocked him back into the restaurant, grabbing his sunglasses in the process and snapped them in half, spitting slim at him in the process. He threw his fist into Scott's face, every ounce of hatred he'd ever held onto put into every blow. This man….His hated enemy. His Dahlia. His hands wrapped around the already suffocating Scott's neck, eager to see the life drain from his face. Control. Please, some kind of control.

"Stop!" Dahlia cried from by their table, watching the scene in front of her with horror. "What are you doing?!"

Toad's eyes snapped towards her and horror melted into terror by the look of hatred in his eyes. He stood up slowly and began his slow walk towards her, head lowered and mouth parted slightly, not unlike a predator ready to kill.

A gasp escaped Dahlia's mouth as she stepped back, a shiver running through her body making her weak to her knees.

"Mortimer?" She asked quietly.

Logan tackled Mortimer to the floor in that instant, knocking him to the floor. A scream escaped Dahlia's mouth as Logan drove his claws back towards Mortimer, narrowly missing his face. Blood oozed from a thin cut in his cheek.

The scent hit Dahlia's nose sharply, causing her eyes to water and pupils to narrow into slits as she stumbled backwards, foot catch on her skirt causing her to fall.

"Scott's suffocating, Logan!" Dahlia cried, feeling the tips of claws pierce her skin as her panic rose.

"RUN." Logan commanded her and she stumbled to her feet at the command and burst through the back doors of the kitchen. She didn't look back to see what the shattering sound behind her was.

As Logan was hit into the back wall he looked towards Scott laying eerily still, in the moment he took to run to Scott and cut the slime from his face, Toad had already followed Dahlia out the back.

Logan's mouth met Scott's as he forced the air back into his lungs. He raised his watch to his face and pressed a button to speak.

"We need back up, NOW. He's gone after her."

"I've already contacted the rest of the team." Professor confirmed.

"Call the paramedics, Scotts down."

Toad burst out into the back alley and his eyes scanned through the darkness. At the base of the dumpster lay her skirt and shoes and in a leap he clung to the wall and started his decent up. In the distance he saw Dahlia's figure crouch then jump from the edge of a building. With arms reached out hands caught the edge of the other building and she hauled herself over.

He leaped, starting his pursuit.

Dahlia's breath came out in short puffs as she leaped further and further away, the headband hiding her ears long gone in the journey to the streets over. The moon cast a low glow over the city like a blanket making her anxious she would be better seen. Dropping down into a tight alley way she pressed her back against the brick of the building behind her, heart pounding in her ears. Had she lost him?

She re-angled her ears, trying to hear over the commotion of New York's Pride Parade's after party on the street over. Her lips quivered, her senses overwhelmed. Flashes of color from left over costumes just outside the alley distracted her constantly. Her ears began to ring. Every sense heightened to an extreme.

A flash of movement her caught her eye and she screamed as Toad's menacing figure landed beside her and swung. She ducked swiftly in reflex and dropped to all fours. Pieces of brick clattered to the ground and the pipe in his hand bent with the impact. Stumbling to her feet she ran into the crowd vainly. Toad landed behind her and putting a foot to her back and kicked her into the middle of the street. The crowd ran every which way, terrified at the outbreak of yet another mutant rampage.

Dahlia rolled onto her back, a clawed hand held up by her scraped face when he landed over her. The skin on her forearm bled from bits of broken bottle she had landed in and bits of hair fell in a mess over her scraped, sweaty face. He pulled back the pipe, ready to end it here and now…but hesitated.

Her eyebrows turned up slightly. A long, thin cut across her cheek dripped blood down her chin. Wide, innocent-looking eyes stared up at him helplessly as she gasped for the air that'd been knocked from her. A shiver shook her body violently and she took a shuddering breath as tears filled her eyes.

"What…What did I do?"

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. One after the other rolled down, dripping off her chin. The anger on his face melted away slightly, the sting of tears welling up in his eyes. His pipe clattered to the ground beside him and rolled away. His world caving in around him with the realization that not even hate was his friend here.

Crouching down slowly, he reached towards her face. She flinched away from him. Her pupils so wide and her heart pounding quickly, like a rabbit caught under its predator's grip. He waited slightly before he reached forward again, brushing the tears from under her eye. He parted his lips but nothing came out, his eyes fixed intently on the girl in front of him.

His placed his hands on the sides of his head, glancing away, his mouth opening again to speak. Dahlia's ears pricked in anticipation, her eyes widening.

But before he could get a word out, a large blue streak knocked Toad away from her and the overwhelming scent of sulfur from behind filled her nose. Kurt wrapped his arms around her quickly.

"No!" She threw her hand out towards Mortimer, unable to get another word out before reappearing just outside Storm's car. Jean jumped from the vehicle and fell to Dahlia's side right away as she slumped to her knees.

"Dahlia! You're okay now. You're with us, okay?" The redhead placed her hands on both of her shoulders. Kurt brushed her hair back from her face gently, his blue finger traced the cut across her face. The scene around Dahlia seemed frozen, ringing engulfing her perception of sound. She could see Jean's mouth moving, but if she were actually speaking she wasn't sure.

"Dahlia? Dahlia? Can you hear me?"

Jean pressed her fingers to Dahlia's temples, squeezing her eyes shut but Dahlia's head snapped up and their eyes met.

"Dahlia…Are you okay?" Concern caressed every word, the kindness in her voice wrapped around her and her eyes welcoming her in.

Dahlia's lips started to quiver and a silent cry escaped her mouth as her body curled forward and her head landed in Jean's lap, all the while shuddering, silent cries escaping her. Placing a hand on her head softly, Jean ran her hand through the young girl's hair gently.

"Shh…You'll be okay, don't worry." Jean met Kurt's eyes and nodded gently and Kurt pulled a blanket from the backseat of her car, wrapping it over the girl's shoulders and guiding her to the car.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comments, suggestions, and advice are well welcome just remember to be polite. :) Also, if you notice any spelling or grammar errors feel free to let me know, I proofread my work a few times before I put it up, but I don't always catch them.
> 
> Thank you for reading! ^_^


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